African Union: ICRC president calls for unhindered access for humanitarian workers

ICRC president Peter Maurer meets with the chair of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council (PSC), H.E. Konjit Sinegiorgis, permanent representative of Ethiopia to the AU and international organizations.

Addressing the PSC, Mr Maurer emphasized that the ICRC’s main concerns in its operations are lack of access to victims and its absence in some of the most critical areas, as well as security for ICRC staff. The lack of progress in peace processes and insufficient translation into more stable environments for humanitarian action also remain a problem.

Updates on the activities of the ICRC in Africa included the humanitarian situation in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Somalia, Libya and Mali, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Mr El-Ghassim Wane, director of the AU’s Peace and Security Department, commends the cooperation between the ICRC and the AU in promoting international humanitarian law.

The ambassador of Nigeria, Mr Peter Isoa Iyamabo, asks about the approach taken by the ICRC in responding to victims of sexual violence.

Mr Mull Sebujja Katende, Uganda’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the AU and UNECA, describes the role of the Kampala Convention in protecting and assisting internally displaced people in Africa.

In his meeting with Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chair of the AU Commission, Mr Maurer outlined the role of the ICRC in the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement’s response to the Ebola outbreak in West African countries. The ICRC president also welcomed the AU’s participation in the consultation process leading to the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.

Mr Maurer briefs the media on his three-day visit to the AU and Ethiopia, highlighting the ICRC’s activities in Africa where the organization has 29 delegations and in 2014 will spend some 563 million US dollars – almost 50% of the organization’s total budget for field operations worldwide.