Sudan: supporting livelihoods and restoring family links

The ICRC continued helping people in remote areas to sow their fields and vaccinate their livestock ahead of heavy rains. Its teams provided vital relief to displaced people in Darfur, buried the dead in Abyei and re-established contact between families in Sudan and their relatives in Guantanamo. At the same time, the ICRC continued to remind all those involved in the conflict of their obligations to respect civilian lives and property. It accepted a request from the Sudanese government for assistance with the release and transfer of 99 minors arrested in connection with an attack on Omdurman last May, enabling them to rejoin their families in Darfur.

Distributing seed and tools in Darfur

Two months ago, the ICRC launched a massive seed distribution operation for families in rural Darfur. The operation was aiming to help 40,000 families (200,000 people) living in remote farming areas, especially in and around Jabal Marra. “The situation in Darfur has made it difficult for these families to get the basic goods and services they need," said ICRC agronomist Bruno Declercq in Sudan. ”The seed will boost their production capacity and improve their economic position.”

Each household received seed for staple foods and cash crops, together with basic tools and a "seed-protection ration" – a supply of food that would prevent families being forced to eat the seed rather than sow it.

When the time came to take stock of the operation, the ICRC found it had assisted more people than expected. Over 500 trucks and hundreds of workers had distributed nearly 3,300 tonnes of seed, food and agricultural implements to 45,000 families in remote areas of North and South Darfur States; 5,000 families (25,000 people) more than the target.

Livestock vaccination campaign

Darfur is home to an estimated 20 million head of livestock, making grazing animals the main form of livelihood and source of income for nomads in the region. Conflict, insecurity, geography and constant nomadic movement have made it increasingly difficult for these people to obtain animal health services. The ICRC is therefore vaccinating their livestock in areas where such services are not available.

To protect animals against five major fatal diseases, two ICRC teams completed a major livestock vaccination campaign in remote areas around Kabkabiyya in northern Darfur, working with the Ministry of Animal Health. The teams vaccinated nearly 130,000 cattle, camels, sheep and goats.

By the end of the operation in mid-July, ICRC teams had vaccinated a total of 500,000 animals in designated nomadic areas in North and South Darfur during 2008. "Red Cross medicine is very good for our animals," said a camel owner near Nyala, South Darfur. "We used to lose 15 to 20 per cent of our animals to disease. This has now dropped to about 5 per cent."

Vaccinations are to resume at the end of the rainy season in October. It is virtually impossible to conduct vaccination campaigns during the rains, as the flocks are moved to greener pastures and it is difficult to access remote areas.

Conducting burials in Abyei

Last May, fighting in the disputed central Sudanese town of Abyei left a number of unburied corpses behind. A team of 14 ICRC and Sudanese Red Crescent staff trained in disaster management was deployed to the town. They located the bodies and attempted to identify them before burying the remains of 59 people with dignity at a known, accessible location.

"Identifying the dead was impossible," said Giorgio Negro, the ICRC team leader. "After being left in the open for nearly a month, the bodies were decomposed beyond recognition. We buried them at a known location, so people could visit."*continues*