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Two of the soldiers were injured. "Our team included medical personnel, and assessed the condition of their injuries to make sure they could be transported," explained Jean-Christophe Sandoz, the ICRC head of delegation in Sudan. The seven travelled by helicopter to Al Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, where they were handed over to Sudanese authorities. ICRC delegates also interviewed the soldiers in private, to make sure that they were not being transferred against their will.
"Playing the role of neutral intermediary between parties to the conflict is an important part of our mandate. The Sudanese government and various armed opposition groups trust the ICRC to play this humanitarian role," said Mr Sandoz. The ICRC remains ready to provide support for any similar operation in the future.
The ICRC has participated in numerous handovers since the beginning of the year, including the repatriation of South Sudanese prisoners of war released by the Sudanese government, and of Sudanese soldiers and civilians released by armed opposition groups in Darfur.
For further information, please contact:
Adil Sharif, ICRC Khartoum (for Arabic), tel: +249 91 2161493
Rafiullah Qureshi, ICRC Khartoum (for English), tel: +249 1 83 476 or +249 912 170 567
David-Pierre Marquet, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 536 92 48
