Disastrous consequences of the Sudan war.. We hope for any positive signs

The spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sudan, Adnan Hizam, announced that the biggest challenge facing the Red Cross in Sudan is the difficulty of reaching the affected areas, due to the great security challenges the country is experiencing.

‘catastrophic consequences’

“We feel great and increasing concern after more than 3 months have passed since this fighting, due to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences it left behind, and we hope that this human suffering will not worsen and that there will be a greater and faster humanitarian response in Sudan,” he added.

Hizam indicated that the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sudan hopes that there will be any positive signs at the political level in order to “alleviate the escalating humanitarian crisis in Sudan, especially since the mutual release of prisoners leads to the reunification of their fighting teams and contributes to easing tension.”

Enormous challenges

With regard to the humanitarian situation in general in Sudan, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sudan expressed concern that “the figures and indicators on the humanitarian situation in Sudan give a frightening impression of the scale of the humanitarian disaster the country is going through, especially with the collapse of basic services and infrastructure in areas witnessing battles and clashes.”

“If we look at what is happening in Sudan, the needs are enormous to meet the humanitarian response that is increasing exponentially every day as the military conflict continues,” he said.

We communicate with both sides of the conflict.

Hizam pointed out that the committee has, during the past period, provided more than “15 hospitals with medical and surgical supplies, given that the priority in cases of war is to provide rapid life-saving response and support for the health sector.”

He also added, “We are in contact and cooperation with the parties to the conflict in Sudan, but we hope to increase coordination and cooperation more, especially with regard to facilitating the arrival of relief teams to the stricken and war-affected areas.”

While the International Organization for Migration stated in its latest report that the number of displaced people in Sudan due to the war rose to 2.6 million, including 200 thousand displaced during the past week, while the number of refugees to neighboring countries reached about 730 thousand people.

neutral broker

Regarding the prisoner exchange process supervised by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sudan, Hizam indicated that it “received 6 prisoners from the army who were being held by the Rapid Support, and then transferred them from Khartoum to Wadi al-Tayeb and handed them over to the Sudanese army.”

“The committee has facilitated the release of more than 130 prisoners between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces through several exchanges since the war began,” he added.

Hizam stressed that the committee only plays “the role of mediator, at the request of the parties to the conflict, and does not interfere in the details of exchanges between them or participate in any dialogue or negotiations in this context.”

“After providing security guarantees from all parties, and agreeing to conduct exchange operations, we are ready to play the role of mediator and facilitate the process,” he said.

An unprecedented disaster

For his part, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid in North Darfur, Abbas Youssef, had warned of an “unprecedented” humanitarian catastrophe in the state in western Sudan, after the strategic stock of food for both the government and humanitarian organizations had been depleted.

Youssef called on the central government in Khartoum and international organizations to intervene quickly to save the humanitarian situation in North Darfur.

It is noteworthy that Sudan slipped into the abyss of fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces on April 15, while the military and civilian parties were putting the final touches on a political process that was supposed to lead to the formation of a civilian government.