ICRC to continue help people in Darfur despite danger

Aug 17, 2006 (NAIROBI) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) would continue to deliver aid to the needy people in Sudan’s Darfur despite continuing violence, said an ICRC report on Darfur released Thursday.

Ethnic groups residing in remote rural areas of Darfur are among the primary recipients of ICRC food distributions, said ICRC in the report.

“They live beyond the reach of other humanitarian organizations and, owing to the fighting, can do little to help themselves,” the report noted.

“The deaths of eight aid workers in Darfur during the month of July underscores the fragile security situation in the region and rendered the distribution of aid even more difficult,” the ICRC said.

Several other staff members were robbed in July, underlining the fragile security situation there, the ICRC said.

The relief organization has vowed to maintain a network of contacts with all parties to the conflict, although its staff members have periodically been threatened and its convoys and staff robbed by groups over which the parties have no control.

The ICRC said its food aid is coupled with agricultural support to enable people to reach or maintain self-sufficiency wherever possible.

Under international humanitarian law, personnel participating in relief actions must be respected and protected. The parties to the conflict must take all necessary measures to ensure their safety and to guarantee their freedom of movement. .

(Xinhua/ST)