Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Sudan

Sudan: ICRC assists people affected by hostilities in North Darfur

Khartoum/Geneva (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will start distributing food and essential household items today to families affected by recent hostilities in and around Korma, in North Darfur.

"Based on the findings of our assessment team, we decided to provide food and other essential items to more than 13,000 people affected by the recent fighting as a first emergency response," explained Jan Nicolas Schuett, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Alfasher, who is supervising the operations. "We will start the distribution today, but it will probably take another three days to reach everyone."

The ICRC assistance will include a half-month food ration for almost 11,500 people affected by the latest events in the area. In addition, almost 2,000 people will receive basic household items such as kitchen sets, tarpaulins, blankets, mats, soap, jerrycans and buckets to help them cope with the situation.

"We are distributing enough food for two weeks," said Mr Schuett. "That should be sufficient until more food is delivered to the affected families by other humanitarian agencies that will be able to enter the area within the coming weeks."

The ICRC is a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence, and to provide them with assistance.

For further information, please contact:

Saleh Dabbakeh, ICRC Khartoum, tel: +249 1 83 476 464 or +249 91 213 77 64

Anna Schaaf, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 22 71 or + 41 79 217 32 17

or visit our website: www.icrc.org