20 May 2008

The British Red Cross and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are extending their support for displaced people at Gereida camp in Darfur until the end of 2008.

Daniel Duvillard, head of ICRC operations for the Horn of Africa, explained: "We initially planned to hand over relief work at Gereida to other aid agencies by July 2008. Our aim is to increase our focus on helping vulnerable people in remote rural communities in Darfur. However, our discussions with various organizations interested in working in the camp have not yet produced a final agreement."

With around 130,000 residents, Gereida camp is one of the biggest facilities for displaced people in Darfur. The Red Cross has been the main humanitarian organisation there since a security incident in December 2006 forced almost all other organisations to leave.

Support for Darfur

The British Red Cross runs a nutrition rehabilitation programme for malnourished children in Gereida camp, in partnership with the Australian Red Cross and the ICRC. The programme consists of a feeding centre and an outreach team of up to 70 nutrition monitors who focus on the prevention and early detection of malnutrition and disease in the camp. They also deliver key health, hygiene and nutrition messages to households and visit children who are registered on the programme.

This year the British Red Cross has also contributed £1.1 million to help fund the ICRC's water and sanitation work in Darfur and has five delegates working in Sudan.

ICRC in Darfur

The ICRC is providing the camp's population with food, shelter materials, household items, clean water, sanitation, and health and nutritional care. They are also extending the work of a field surgical team in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan to treat wounded people who have no access to medical care.

In addition, ICRC delegates are helping the displaced to contact family members with whom they have lost touch, and are collecting allegations of violations of international humanitarian law in order to discuss them in a confidential dialogue with the parties concerned.

More about our work in Darfur