Sudan: ICRC’s first international shipment of humanitarian aid arrives in Port Sudan

Life-saving medical material departed from Amman, Jordan to Port Sudan today as part of emergency operations by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) following the outbreak of conflict in Sudan.

The 8 tonnes of humanitarian cargo includes surgical material to support Sudanese hospitals and volunteers from the Sudan Red Crescent Society (SRCS) who are providing medical care to people wounded in the fighting.

“After 14th April, no-one has managed to get medical assistance into the country which is badly needed,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC’s regional director for Africa. “This medical assistance will hopefully travel quite quickly from Port Sudan and delivered to the hospitals that are in most need and that indeed requires a ceasefire that should be respected by both sides for us to be able, with our colleagues from the Sudanese Red Crescent, to deliver these items as quickly as we can to the hospitals and allow the medical personnel, doctors and nurses, but also first aid volunteers, to do their job.”

The medical shipment includes anaesthetics, dressings, sutures and other surgical material that can treat thousands of people who may have been wounded by weapons. With hostilities still ongoing, ICRC teams will need guarantees of safe passage from the parties to the conflict to deliver this material to medical facilities in locations with active fighting, such as Khartoum.

Since commercial flights in Sudan were discontinued and civilian airspace became inaccessible, the ICRC has been working to overcome logistical and security challenges to help civilians in need who are trapped in the fighting. Delivering medical supplies to hospitals and helping them restore water and power lines remains its urgent priority.

The ICRC is grateful for the support of the authorities in Jordan -- where the ICRC has a major logistics hub -- who rapidly made an aircraft available to deliver this medical cargo. We also appreciate the cooperation shown by the civilian Sudanese authorities in charge of facilitating the arrival of aircraft with humanitarian goods and personnel on board.

The ICRC is sending a second airplane carrying additional ICRC medical supplies and emergency personnel.

“The World Health Organisation has reported over four thousand seven hundred injured with almost four hundred and fifty dead. This requires medical assistance but also requires a strong and steady professional dead body management,” said Youssef. “I hope this will be the first of a number of batches that will come, will be extremely crucial for the hospitals to be able to cater for the needs of thousands of people that are flocking to their doors and waiting to get medical assistance.”

The ICRC reminds the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and to facilitate the work of medical and humanitarian personnel, treat detainees humanely and take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of life among civilians and damage to civilian objects and infrastructure. 

Note to editors:

The ICRC has been present in Sudan since 1978 helping people affected by the conflict in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. The ICRC’s work today, independently or in cooperation the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, includes supporting hospitals and health facilities with equipment and supplies, working with local water authorities on improving people’s access to clean water and supporting the authorities in providing rehabilitation services for people with disabilities.

SHOTLIST

Location: Amman, Jordan

Camera: Saja Aliwi, Misada Saif

Filming Date: 28th and 29th April 2023

Length: 6:29

Copyright: ICRC access all

On Screen Credit: ICRC written or logo attached to story

00:00 – 00:20: Shot of medical supplies at an ICRC warehouse in Amman, Jordan.

00:21 - 00:48: Various shots of ICRC staff packing supplies at a warehouse in Amman, Jordan

00:49 – 01:06: Various shots of ICRC staff preparing to load medical supplies in Amman, Jordan for shipment to Sudan.

01:07 – 02:07: Soundbite: Patrick Youssef, Director of Operations - Africa, ICRC

“After 14th April, no-one has managed to get medical assistance into the country which is badly needed. This medical assistance will hopefully travel quite quickly from Port Sudan and delivered to the hospitals that are in most need and that indeed requires a ceasefire that should be respected by both sides for us to be able, with our colleagues from the Sudanese Red Crescent, to deliver these items as quickly as we can to the hospitals and allow the medical personnel, doctors and nurses, but also first aid volunteers, to do their job. For now, as much as they are trying, people are extremely disappointed because no-one unfortunately is able to build a strong humanitarian response as its needed. Since the 14th of April, the number of casualties has only increased because the fighting is happening in densely populated areas in a capital of six million people.”

02:08 – 02:46: Shots of ICRC trucks ready to loaded with medical supplies in Amman, destined for Port Sudan, Sudan.

02:47 – 03:20: Soundbite: Soundbite: Patrick Youssef, Director of Operations - Africa, ICRC

“The World Health Organisation has reported over 4,700 injured with almost 450 dead. This requires medical assistance but also requires a strong and steady professional dead body management and I hope this will be the first of a number of batches that will come, will be extremely crucial for the hospitals to be able to cater for the needs of thousands of people that are flocking to their doors and waiting to get medical assistance.”

03:20 – 4:21 Soundbite (Arabic): Misada Saif, Communication Coordinator – ICRC- Amman.

“We are now at Marka Airport in Amman, preparing to transport the first shipment of medical supplies to be sent to Port Sudan to help hospitals in Khartoum and throughout Sudan to respond to the enormous growing humanitarian needs as a result of the fighting there. Our colleagues in Sudan have been reporting large numbers of wounded people who do not have access to necessary treatment, so we hope that this medical shipment will contribute to saving the lives of hundreds and thousands of Sudanese who are now in dire humanitarian conditions. We hope that this will be the beginning of more assistance sent to Sudan. ICRC is very thankful to the Jordanian authorities for facilitating and supporting this shipment.”

04:22 – 05:05  Soundbite (English): Nebojsa Munjes, Logistician – ICRC- Logistic support center Amman

“I’m standing here at Marka airport. We’re loading today medical supplies to be sent from Amman to Port Sudan. We are aware in ICRC about the huge needs for medical supplies and those needs are very, very urgent, so we’re sending today this shipment and we hope it will help a lot in the initial situation in hospitals in Sudan. We are thankful to Jordanian authority who facilitated this transport.”

05:05 – 05:05  Various shots of loading the medical supplies in the airplane in Marka airport.

 Ends

For further information, please contact:

Crystal Wells, ICRC Geneva, +41 77 963 75 74, cwells@icrc.org

Alyona Synenko, ICRC Nairobi, +254 716 897 265, asynenko@icrc.org

Alaa Nayel, ICRC Kuwait, +965 966 73614, anayel@icrc.org

Jessica Moussan, ICRC Dubai, +971 504 254 091, jmoussan@icrc.org

Matthew Morris, ICRC London, +44 7753 809471 mmorris@icrc.org 

Established in 1863, the ICRC operates worldwide helping people affected by conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims of war. A neutral, independent and impartial organization, its mandate stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949.