Sudan – ICRC Bulletin No. 53 / 2007
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Latest report on ICRC activities in the field
The ICRC remains concerned about the poor security conditions that affect the civilian population in many parts of Darfur.
Despite the increased number of clashes and the intensified fighting of recent weeks, the ICRC has still managed to carry out its humanitarian work in various areas.
Owing to the unstable and tense environment and the poor road conditions during the current rainy season, access to remote rural zones remains irregular and difficult.
“The precarious security situation makes it extremely hard to plan and carry out field activities,” said Denise Duran, head of the ICRC’s Darfur operation.
“This means that the communities most at risk in rural areas are often reachable only sporadically.” ICRC teams constantly try to mitigate the effects of the conflict and avert further displacement of civilians to camps in Darfur.
In particular, they provide the most vulnerable people with emergency aid and help them to preserve their livelihoods.
In addition, the ICRC teams monitor compliance with international humanitarian law by all warring parties and remind them of their obligation to spare civilians.
The ICRC also assists groups who return to their places of origin.
New population displacements in Jebel Marra, Darfur The ICRC has determined that thousands of people, many of whom had already been displaced several times since the conflict began in 2003, moved to Dom Jong, Fujo, Fatma Karal, Kutrum, Kwila, Boldong, Kati and Kurifal in remote areas of Western Jebel Marra between June and August.
Many fled there to escape the fighting or out of fear of attack; others were forced to move by their deteriorating economic situation or their increasing isolation and lack of access to services in remote places.
This population movement affects the already fragile situation of residents and formerly displaced people in the region.
To assist the most vulnerable, the ICRC distributed essential household items such as tarpaulins, blankets, buckets and jerrycans to 1,500 households (approximately 9,000 people) in Dom Jong, Golol, Talga and Kutrum settlements in West Darfur.
An ICRC health team supplied Golol clinic with additional furniture and extra drugs such as antimalarials, antibiotics, painkillers, anaemia and deworming tablets to cope with the health needs of the displaced and residents.
Over 2,000 medical consultations were held at the clinic in recent weeks.
The ICRC team provided preventive care in two settlements for displaced persons in Dom Jong and Fujo (Talga), where over 200 children were vaccinated and more than 100 women received antenatal care attendance and tetanus vaccines.
Aid for nomadic communities in North Darfur Owing to the relatively stable security situation in the north of Kutum, around 1,000 people – mostly women, children and elderly persons – were able to return to their damrats (nomadic settlements).
To help improve the living conditions of these returnees, the ICRC distributed almost 300 tarpaulins.
The ICRC is considering how to provide further support for people’s livelihoods in these damrats.
In addition, the ICRC has been conducting animal vaccination campaigns to support nomadic pastoralists in the region.
The first campaign took place in Dar El Salam in North Darfur during the month of July.
It was carried out in close cooperation with the Sudanese Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries.
Camel herders were notified through the traditional oral information system and brought over 30,000 animals (sheep, goats, cattle and camels) to be vaccinated.
A second campaign that began in the Kabkabyia area in August is still under way; another will follow in Kutum.
It is expected that by the end of the year over 300,000 animals will have been vaccinated in Darfur with ICRC support.
The ICRC also trains community animal-health workers, as it recently did in Nyala, South Darfur.
Deployment of a field surgical team in South and North Darfur In August the ICRC sent a field surgical team to Haskanita, South Darfur, to treat fighters wounded in clashes that took place near Haskanita and Adila, South Darfur.
The team performed over 70 operations.
It had already been deployed three times in July to operate on 22 patients in North and South Darfur and to treat 10 victims of ethnic clashes in Bor, Southern Sudan.
The team, made up of a surgeon, an anaesthetist, a surgical nurse and a ward nurse, treats wounded people in situations where no surgical care would otherwise be available.
Responding to unmet needs in Tawila While the ICRC continues to attend to the basic needs of over 120,000 displaced persons in Gereida camp, in June it had to step in unexpectedly near Tawila in North Darfur to respond to the unmet medical and sanitation needs of approximately 40,000 people in Argo, Dali and Rwanda camps, where most humanitarian organizations had pulled out for security reasons.
The ICRC: supplied first-aid kits; supplied medical equipment and furniture for the Argo clinic, and drugs in support of the health-care staff in the Rwanda clinic; built and installed 500 latrines in cooperation with the residents of the three camps; carried out repair work on two hand-operated water pumps in Argo and Dali camps and on three hand-dug wells and two hand-operated pumps in Tawila town, in addition to donating tools and spare parts; spayed all three camps in the Tawila area against insects in a joint operation with the Sudanese Ministry of Health; distributed, with the help of Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers, 1,140 tarpaulins and 975 kits containing sleeping mats, blankets, jerrycans and clothing to the displaced people in all three camps; held information sessions on basic humanitarian principles attended by members of armed groups operating in the area, community leaders, residents and displaced persons to raise awareness of the importance of sparing and protecting civilians; helped people separated from their relatives to keep in touch through the exchange of Red Cross messages (brief messages containing family news) with the help of Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers.
Basic sanitation has now been restored, which should help reduce the spread of water- and excreta-related diseases if good hygiene practices are followed.
The ICRC handed over the primary health-care posts in the Tawila area, including their furniture, dressing materials and medicines, to MSF Spain, which also stepped in to run a mobile clinic in each camp.
The ICRC will remain in the area to boost the capabilities of Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers, monitor compliance with international humanitarian law, and remind all parties to the conflict of their responsibilities.
Providing health care and promoting international humanitarian law in Jebel Moon, West Darfur ICRC health teams successfully completed a vaccination campaign in Jebel Moon in which over 2,000 children were vaccinated against tuberculosis, diphtheria, polio and measles, and over 300 women of child-bearing age were vaccinated against tetanus.
During the vaccination rounds, ICRC mobile health teams delivered 544 mosquito nets to mothers of children under five years old.
As part of its efforts to spread knowledge and understanding of international humanitarian law, the ICRC held information sessions for several armed opposition groups in Jebel Moon and for government forces in Seleia.
Promoting the law and its integration into military procedures is part of the dialogue with arms carriers that the ICRC considers key to enhancing respect for and protection of civilians.
Supporting the Sudanese Red Crescent's response to the floods Heavy rains have caused rivers to overflow and flash floods to occur throughout the country, particularly in the central, eastern and southern parts.
According to the latest estimates by the Humanitarian Assistance Commission and the Sudanese Red Crescent, almost 100,000 households have been directly affected and their homes and livelihoods totally or partially destroyed.
Sudanese Red Crescent staff and volunteers have been involved in relief, health and sanitation activities in several Sudanese states with the aim of responding to the vital needs of the people most affected.
The National Society distributed household items to 1,000 families living in Leer and Mayendit Counties in Unity State in coordination with other national and international organizations working in the area.
In another operation, ICRC-donated emergency aid, including blankets, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, kitchen sets, jerrycans, soap and clothing, was distributed by local Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers in the region of Al Fulah in the western part of South Kordofan.
The ICRC also donated three much-needed vehicles to the South Sudan Secretariat of the Sudanese Red Crescent, which greatly boosted the Society’s logistics capacity in the southern part of the country.
Extensive flooding is likely to continue to occur in large swathes of the country, as more heavy rain is expected until the end of the rainy season in mid-October.
The ICRC stands ready to provide further support for the Sudanese Red Crescent as required.
The Sudanese Red Crescent is also receiving significant support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and from several partner National Societies working in the country, and donations from sister Societies in the Arab world.
Spreading knowledge and understanding of international humanitarian law in Southern Sudan Since the January 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has been the official armed force in Southern Sudan.
As such, it recently agreed to work jointly with the ICRC on a three-year programme to integrate international humanitarian law into its training curriculum and procedures.
The programme is planned to start in early 2008.
The ICRC regularly organizes information sessions for all arms carriers, including opposition groups and militias.
In August, it held a session on international humanitarian law for 70 commanders of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army in Nabanga, some 460 km south-west of Juba, Southern Sudan, focusing on the rules governing the conduct of hostilities and commanders’ responsibilities.
“Changing the behaviour of fighters is not an easy task, but requires long-term effort and commitment,” said Hasan Abaza, an ICRC delegate.
“If the ICRC’s ongoing dialogue with all parties and its support for the teaching of international humanitarian law, and for the integration of the law into military procedures, can contribute to better protection for civilians and ex-fighters no longer participating directly in the hostilities, then the effort will be well worth it.” For further information, please contact:
Cecilia Goin, ICRC Khartoum, tel +249 912 13 77 64
Anna Schaaf, ICRC Geneva, tel +41 79 217 32 17
See also ICRC media contacts
This article on www.icrc.org
The ICRC remains concerned about the poor security conditions that affect the civilian population in many parts of Darfur.
Despite the increased number of clashes and the intensified fighting of recent weeks, the ICRC has still managed to carry out its humanitarian work in various areas.
Owing to the unstable and tense environment and the poor road conditions during the current rainy season, access to remote rural zones remains irregular and difficult.
“The precarious security situation makes it extremely hard to plan and carry out field activities,” said Denise Duran, head of the ICRC’s Darfur operation.
“This means that the communities most at risk in rural areas are often reachable only sporadically.” ICRC teams constantly try to mitigate the effects of the conflict and avert further displacement of civilians to camps in Darfur.
In particular, they provide the most vulnerable people with emergency aid and help them to preserve their livelihoods.
In addition, the ICRC teams monitor compliance with international humanitarian law by all warring parties and remind them of their obligation to spare civilians.
The ICRC also assists groups who return to their places of origin.
New population displacements in Jebel Marra, Darfur The ICRC has determined that thousands of people, many of whom had already been displaced several times since the conflict began in 2003, moved to Dom Jong, Fujo, Fatma Karal, Kutrum, Kwila, Boldong, Kati and Kurifal in remote areas of Western Jebel Marra between June and August.
Many fled there to escape the fighting or out of fear of attack; others were forced to move by their deteriorating economic situation or their increasing isolation and lack of access to services in remote places.
This population movement affects the already fragile situation of residents and formerly displaced people in the region.
To assist the most vulnerable, the ICRC distributed essential household items such as tarpaulins, blankets, buckets and jerrycans to 1,500 households (approximately 9,000 people) in Dom Jong, Golol, Talga and Kutrum settlements in West Darfur.
An ICRC health team supplied Golol clinic with additional furniture and extra drugs such as antimalarials, antibiotics, painkillers, anaemia and deworming tablets to cope with the health needs of the displaced and residents.
Over 2,000 medical consultations were held at the clinic in recent weeks.
The ICRC team provided preventive care in two settlements for displaced persons in Dom Jong and Fujo (Talga), where over 200 children were vaccinated and more than 100 women received antenatal care attendance and tetanus vaccines.
Aid for nomadic communities in North Darfur Owing to the relatively stable security situation in the north of Kutum, around 1,000 people – mostly women, children and elderly persons – were able to return to their damrats (nomadic settlements).
To help improve the living conditions of these returnees, the ICRC distributed almost 300 tarpaulins.
The ICRC is considering how to provide further support for people’s livelihoods in these damrats.
In addition, the ICRC has been conducting animal vaccination campaigns to support nomadic pastoralists in the region.
The first campaign took place in Dar El Salam in North Darfur during the month of July.
It was carried out in close cooperation with the Sudanese Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries.
Camel herders were notified through the traditional oral information system and brought over 30,000 animals (sheep, goats, cattle and camels) to be vaccinated.
A second campaign that began in the Kabkabyia area in August is still under way; another will follow in Kutum.
It is expected that by the end of the year over 300,000 animals will have been vaccinated in Darfur with ICRC support.
The ICRC also trains community animal-health workers, as it recently did in Nyala, South Darfur.
Deployment of a field surgical team in South and North Darfur In August the ICRC sent a field surgical team to Haskanita, South Darfur, to treat fighters wounded in clashes that took place near Haskanita and Adila, South Darfur.
The team performed over 70 operations.
It had already been deployed three times in July to operate on 22 patients in North and South Darfur and to treat 10 victims of ethnic clashes in Bor, Southern Sudan.
The team, made up of a surgeon, an anaesthetist, a surgical nurse and a ward nurse, treats wounded people in situations where no surgical care would otherwise be available.
Responding to unmet needs in Tawila While the ICRC continues to attend to the basic needs of over 120,000 displaced persons in Gereida camp, in June it had to step in unexpectedly near Tawila in North Darfur to respond to the unmet medical and sanitation needs of approximately 40,000 people in Argo, Dali and Rwanda camps, where most humanitarian organizations had pulled out for security reasons.
The ICRC: supplied first-aid kits; supplied medical equipment and furniture for the Argo clinic, and drugs in support of the health-care staff in the Rwanda clinic; built and installed 500 latrines in cooperation with the residents of the three camps; carried out repair work on two hand-operated water pumps in Argo and Dali camps and on three hand-dug wells and two hand-operated pumps in Tawila town, in addition to donating tools and spare parts; spayed all three camps in the Tawila area against insects in a joint operation with the Sudanese Ministry of Health; distributed, with the help of Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers, 1,140 tarpaulins and 975 kits containing sleeping mats, blankets, jerrycans and clothing to the displaced people in all three camps; held information sessions on basic humanitarian principles attended by members of armed groups operating in the area, community leaders, residents and displaced persons to raise awareness of the importance of sparing and protecting civilians; helped people separated from their relatives to keep in touch through the exchange of Red Cross messages (brief messages containing family news) with the help of Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers.
Basic sanitation has now been restored, which should help reduce the spread of water- and excreta-related diseases if good hygiene practices are followed.
The ICRC handed over the primary health-care posts in the Tawila area, including their furniture, dressing materials and medicines, to MSF Spain, which also stepped in to run a mobile clinic in each camp.
The ICRC will remain in the area to boost the capabilities of Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers, monitor compliance with international humanitarian law, and remind all parties to the conflict of their responsibilities.
Providing health care and promoting international humanitarian law in Jebel Moon, West Darfur ICRC health teams successfully completed a vaccination campaign in Jebel Moon in which over 2,000 children were vaccinated against tuberculosis, diphtheria, polio and measles, and over 300 women of child-bearing age were vaccinated against tetanus.
During the vaccination rounds, ICRC mobile health teams delivered 544 mosquito nets to mothers of children under five years old.
As part of its efforts to spread knowledge and understanding of international humanitarian law, the ICRC held information sessions for several armed opposition groups in Jebel Moon and for government forces in Seleia.
Promoting the law and its integration into military procedures is part of the dialogue with arms carriers that the ICRC considers key to enhancing respect for and protection of civilians.
Supporting the Sudanese Red Crescent's response to the floods Heavy rains have caused rivers to overflow and flash floods to occur throughout the country, particularly in the central, eastern and southern parts.
According to the latest estimates by the Humanitarian Assistance Commission and the Sudanese Red Crescent, almost 100,000 households have been directly affected and their homes and livelihoods totally or partially destroyed.
Sudanese Red Crescent staff and volunteers have been involved in relief, health and sanitation activities in several Sudanese states with the aim of responding to the vital needs of the people most affected.
The National Society distributed household items to 1,000 families living in Leer and Mayendit Counties in Unity State in coordination with other national and international organizations working in the area.
In another operation, ICRC-donated emergency aid, including blankets, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, kitchen sets, jerrycans, soap and clothing, was distributed by local Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers in the region of Al Fulah in the western part of South Kordofan.
The ICRC also donated three much-needed vehicles to the South Sudan Secretariat of the Sudanese Red Crescent, which greatly boosted the Society’s logistics capacity in the southern part of the country.
Extensive flooding is likely to continue to occur in large swathes of the country, as more heavy rain is expected until the end of the rainy season in mid-October.
The ICRC stands ready to provide further support for the Sudanese Red Crescent as required.
The Sudanese Red Crescent is also receiving significant support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and from several partner National Societies working in the country, and donations from sister Societies in the Arab world.
Spreading knowledge and understanding of international humanitarian law in Southern Sudan Since the January 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has been the official armed force in Southern Sudan.
As such, it recently agreed to work jointly with the ICRC on a three-year programme to integrate international humanitarian law into its training curriculum and procedures.
The programme is planned to start in early 2008.
The ICRC regularly organizes information sessions for all arms carriers, including opposition groups and militias.
In August, it held a session on international humanitarian law for 70 commanders of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army in Nabanga, some 460 km south-west of Juba, Southern Sudan, focusing on the rules governing the conduct of hostilities and commanders’ responsibilities.
“Changing the behaviour of fighters is not an easy task, but requires long-term effort and commitment,” said Hasan Abaza, an ICRC delegate.
“If the ICRC’s ongoing dialogue with all parties and its support for the teaching of international humanitarian law, and for the integration of the law into military procedures, can contribute to better protection for civilians and ex-fighters no longer participating directly in the hostilities, then the effort will be well worth it.” For further information, please contact:
Cecilia Goin, ICRC Khartoum, tel +249 912 13 77 64
Anna Schaaf, ICRC Geneva, tel +41 79 217 32 17
See also ICRC media contacts
This article on www.icrc.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
