12-12-2006 News release 06/142 Chad: ICRC assists war-wounded in eastern Chad N'Djamena / Geneva (ICRC) – After one of the heaviest clashes so far between government troops and opposition forces took place on 9 December, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was the first humanitarian organization to reach the area of the fighting. © ICRC / td-e-00090
The ICRC has recently deployed two surgical teams in Chad in order to treat war-wounded.
The ICRC is currently evacuating some 45 wounded people from Biltine and Arada, respectively located 85 km and 150 km north of Abéché, in eastern Chad. One truck and four Land Cruisers are being used to take them to the hospital in Abéché. The ICRC has also re-supplied the hospital in Biltine with medicines and first-aid kits and assisted the Red Cross of Chad in its efforts to collect and identify the dead.
The ICRC recently increased its personnel in the east of the country. In the last few days, two of its surgical teams have operated on more than 50 seriously wounded people in Abéché and N'Djamena. Hôpital Liberté in N'Djamena, where the ICRC runs a surgical training programme, has admitted over 60 war-wounded who were evacuated from the east by the Chadian authorities. Those being treated in Abéché and N'Djamena include both government troops and opposition forces, and a few civilians who were hit by stray bullets. For further information, please contact: Anahita Kar, ICRC Chad, tel: +235 620 10 05 Marco Jiménez Rodríguez, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 22 71 or +41 79 217 32 17>br> |