ICRC steps up aid for 40,000 Sudanese fleeing fighting in Darfur

GENEVA, Oct. 21, 2003 (KUNA) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes due to fierce fighting in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

According to the ICRC more than 40,000 are reported to have sought refuge in neighboring Chad.

To meet the most pressing needs of these people, who have already endured months of hardship, the ICRC and the Sudanese Red Crescent (SRC) launched an emergency relief operation in early October.

During the first phase of the operation, which ended last week, ICRC sanitary engineers and SRC volunteers installed a water pump and storage facilities to provide safe water for both the resident population and the internally displaced people sheltering in Kurma, some 70 km from El Fashir, the capital of Northern Darfur.

Basic medical supplies were also delivered to the SRC branch in El Fashir to treat the wounded.

The ICRC noted that it is concerned about the current situation and calls upon all those involved in the hostilities to abide by the rules and principles of international humanitarian law, in particular to take all necessary steps to protect civilians from effects of the conflict.