ICRC field activities in Sudan – Bulletin No. 38

ICRC

An African Union vehicle was attacked on Saturday 7 January, resulting in
the death of one peacekeeper and injuries to several others. The attack
took place near West Darfur’s capital Al-Geneina, not far from the
Sudan-Chad border. The region has been the scene of several security
incidents in recent weeks, with worrying consequences for the already
precarious humanitarian situation.

Another example of the volatile situation is Abu Saruj, a village some 15
kilometres north of Al-Geneina, where clashes between governmental troops
and rebel groups took place on 19 December. Several hundred people left
their homes in search of safety and shelter, further increasing
humanitarian needs around Al-Geneina.

On December 18, fighting occurred between Chadian opposition groups and
Chadian forces in the Chadian border town of Adré, south-west of
Al-Geneina. This was one of several major incidents that are destabilizing
the Sudan-Chadian border region and causing suffering among the local
population

As reported previously, security problems have forced the ICRC
sub-delegation in Al-Geneina to significantly reduce its activities.
Fortunately, however, the ICRC sub-delegation in Zalingei is able to cover
at least 60% of West Darfur.

As the violence increases, so do the needs. And yet, at the same time, the
ICRC is being left with ever fewer opportunities to act credibly and
effectively without endangering its staff or those it is trying to help.
The ICRC therefore remains very concerned about the predicament of the
victims of this conflict.

The ICRC will be assessing the security situation in West Darfur over the
coming weeks. Only then will the organization be able to consider resuming
operations in the area.

Clashes at the end of the year in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur left
several people injured. The Field Surgical Team (FST) was deployed to the
village of Daya (in the northern part of the Jebel Marra), where it treated
nine people injured in these incidents. The FST is scheduled to perform a
follow-up visit to these patients, if the security situation allows.

As they were returning to base, the team received a request for assistance
from the health authorities of Zalingei (West Darfur) who asked them to
follow up a number of people the FST had already treated following tribal
clashes four weeks earlier.

Inter-tribal fighting and tension continue in the region of Abata, in West
Darfur. Hundreds of families were uprooted and displaced to the towns of
Abata and Zalingei. Following a needs assessment, the ICRC distributed food
and other essential items to 150 families on 8 January.

On 6 January, the health authorities of Gereida, south of Nyala, asked the
FST to treat 14 victims of recent clashes.

On four occasions during November and December, the SLA asked the ICRC to
act as neutral intermediary in facilitating the transfer of some 20 people
detained in Darfur. All the detainees were handed over to government
authorities or their families.

In 2005 the ICRC carried out the following activities:

In Darfur:

· Supplied water to seven camps for displaced persons and to urban areas, repaired water-supply networks in four towns (Al-Fashir, Kutum, Gereida and Al-Geneina) and provided some 1.5 million people with a total of two million litres of water per day.

· Distributed over 32,000 tonnes of food to 300,000 people.

· Deployed its mobile field surgical team 30 times since April. The team performed over 370 operations on war-wounded patients (including combatants) who would otherwise have had no access to care.

· In Sudan as a whole:

· Repaired and upgraded five hospitals and 12 primary health-care clinics. Provided four hospitals and 12 primary health-care clinics with staff, drugs, consultations and surgery, and expanded immunization and
training programmes.

· Gave talks on international humanitarian law, ICRC activities and the
fundamental principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent to some 10,500
people, including government officials, military personnel, opposition
groups, armed militias and religious and community leaders.

· Collected over 29,300 Red Cross messages and distributed over 30,200.

· Continued to hold confidential discussions on the protection of
conflict victims with all parties, at all levels, both in the field and in
Khartoum.

– For further information, please contact:
– Paul Conneally, ICRC Khartoum, tel. +249 9121 70576
– Lorena Brander, ICRC Khartoum, tel. +249 9121 37764
– Marco Jiménez Rodríguez, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 79 217 3217