Nairobi, Aug. 22, (dpa/GNA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday appealed to the warring parties in Sudan to allow it access to people in the town of al-Fasher in the North Darfur region, which has been embattled for months.
The main access routes to the city are impassable and despite repeated efforts, the ICRC has not been able to bring relief supplies to al-Fasher, a spokeswoman said. According to her, thousands of civilians are trapped.
A bloody power struggle has been raging in Sudan for almost 16 months between the de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. According to the UN, the conflict has triggered the world’s largest refugee crisis, with more than 10 million people having been displaced or fled – many of them multiple times.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and several aid organizations have warned of an impending famine. There are already deaths, especially among infants and young children, who are dying as a result of severe malnutrition, according to reports.
The ICRC welcomed the Sudanese Governing Council’s order to open the Adre border crossing with Chad for three months. Dozens of lorries carrying aid are already on their way from there to West Darfur.
“Any initiative that can improve humanitarian access is an important and encouraging development,” the ICRC said in a news release. But it also noted that these three months coincide with the rainy season, and many roads are already impassable after heavy flooding.
GNA