Chad/Sudan: ICRC facilitates release of 30 children previously detained in relation to conflict; ICRC president visits eastern Chad

The ICRC played the role of neutral intermediary during the release operation, organizing the safe transportation of the children by road from Khartoum to Wad Madani. ICRC delegates checked on their health and any concerns they may have prior to travel, provided them with clothes and hygiene items, and will be supporting them to re-establish contact with their families.

The Ministry of Social Development will take custody of the 30 children, with ICRC teams following up on their situation and working to reconnect them with their family members.

While fighting in Sudan is ongoing, over 150,000 Sudanese refugees are now in Adré, on the border between Chad and the western Darfur region of Sudan. Most of the refugees are women and children fleeing extreme violence that has ravaged their homes and villages since April.

Thousands of families have been separated, and ICRC teams working together with the Red Cross Society of Chad have helped Sudanese refugees make hundreds of phone calls to their loved ones. About 560 refugees are now back in touch with their relatives.

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric spoke with Sudanese refugees and local authorities in Adré.  

“We are trying to make sure that they can at least contact their families. It is a primary concern for them to know where their relatives are.  But they also need to be able to subsist on something,” said President Spoljaric. “Without additional resources these communities will not be able to absorb the pressure of so many additional people who have nothing to eat.”

Together with the Sudanese Red Crescent, the ICRC has provided relief and essential assistance to thousands of displaced people since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan in mid-April.  With limited resources and growing needs in eastern Chad and Sudan, the ICRC is appealing to its donors for additional funding to help those in need.

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.