George Rupp's Sudan Field Report |
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July 2nd, 2007 - 11:42AM |
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George Rupp (second row, third from left) visits IRC staff in Sudan Photo: Carol Sherman/The IRC From International Rescue Committee president George Rupp. He and IRC senior vice president George Biddle recently returned from a weeklong trip to Sudan where they visited the conflict-ridden Darfur region and met with top Sudanese government officials. They also met with IRC staff members who manage IRC programs serving more than a million people throughout the country. In June, I had the opportunity to travel to Sudan to visit the conflict-ridden Darfur region. Darfur continues to be the world’s most acute humanitarian crisis. Since the outbreak of fighting in 2003, at least 200,000 Darfuris have lost their lives and more than two million people have been driven from their homes. Today many of them are living in camps inside Darfur or have crossed the border and become refugees in Chad. While in Khartoum, I met with officials of the government of Sudan and urged them to cooperate in making it easier for the IRC to carry out its vital life saving mission in Darfur. I also met with IRC staff members in Darfur to thank them for their dedication and excellent work. Darfur is one of the most challenging environments in the world to carry out humanitarian assistance. Our staff works long hours under arduous conditions to save lives. In Nyala, in South Darfur, for example, the IRC is running the only health clinic tending to patients' needs 24 hours a day. The IRC is providing services and support to victims of sexual violence — critically important in a society deeply reluctant to acknowledge the crime of rape. All told, the IRC serves more than 800,000 displaced people in Darfur and another 180,000 people in communities that host the uprooted population. The IRC is active as well in the Northeast—with services to some 300,000 beneficiaries. The IRC is also providing critical humanitarian aid in South Sudan. There, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in January 2005 continues to hold. The pact ended a war between the government in the north and a well-established rebelmovement in the south that had dragged on for over two decades. The restoration of peace is permitting families to return home after years of exile and will enable us to move ahead with programs to help them rebuild their communities and their society. I am especially proud to note that whether in Darfur or in South Sudan, over 95 percent of IRC staff members are Sudanese citizens. You can learn more about the Darfur crisis here and make a gift that will directly support our humanitarian mission to the people of Darfur here. Posted By: theirc | Africa, Sudan & the Darfur Crisis Permalink |
