Sudan: Major airlift to support relief operation
24-08-2004 News Release 04/48
Geneva (ICRC) – To respond to the growing crisis in Darfur, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is launching a major airlift out of Geneva, which will supplement flights currently leaving Nairobi twice weekly to deliver aid and logistics equipment for ICRC operations in Sudan.
© ICRC /T. Gassmann/ref. CH-E-00002H On six trips departing from Geneva airport, an Antonov 124 – one of the largest cargo aircraft in the world – will transport 55 trucks, 27 four-wheel-drive vehicles, 10 tent hangars, medical equipment, medicines, water and fuel tanks, spare parts, tyres and other supplies weighing a total of 720 metric tonnes. An important contribution to this cargo has come from the Norwegian Red Cross. Dozens of land convoys will then move most of the equipment and supplies over difficult terrain – made even more hazardous by the ongoing rains – to the three remote Darfuri state capitals.
For further information, please contact:
Carlo Piccinini, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++249 9 121 377 64
Roland Huguenin-Benjamin, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++249 121 678 01
Marco Jiménez Rodríguez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 22 71