Red Cross suspends operations in S. Sudan’s Equatoria region

September 11, 2017 (JUBA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on that Monday it has suspended operations in South Sudan’s Equatoria region following last week’s killing of a staff member.

ICRC’s spokesperson, Mari Aftret Mortvert said the move was to allow the agency assess the security situation in the war-torn nation.

“For now our movements have stopped in the Equatoria region. We are just trying to understand and try to investigate what happened, but is too early to go into details of when, where and how we would go and move further into our activities,” Mortvert told Xinhua.

He said the agency has also launched an investigation into the death of Lukudu.

Under international humanitarian law, intentional attacks against humanitarian relief personnel may constitute war crimes.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million displaced since conflict broke out in South Sudan in 2013. More than 80 aid workers have reportedly been killed in South Sudan since December 2013.

(ST)