ICRC declares delay of transporting Sudanese war prisoners held by rebels

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Saturday announced that an operation to transport Sudanese detainees held by rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector was delayed.

The ICRC was scheduled, during June 23 and 24, to transport 41 Sudanese Prisoners of War (POWs) held by the SPLM/northern sector in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, to the Sudanese authorities in Khartoum via Asosa airport in Ethiopia.

"After months of negotiations and preparations, all parties involved asked the ICRC to conduct this operation, allowing it to use its planes. Unfortunately, the final authorization to take off on the alleged dates was not granted, and the operation has been postponed to a later date," the ICRC said in a press release Saturday.

The ICRC called on all parties involved to continue working together to allow the concerned detainees to return home to their families as soon as possible.

Saehoon, a group of Islamists who fought against Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in South Sudan before the session, initiated the task of mediating for the release of the Sudanese POWs from the SPLM/northern sector.

In a statement Saturday, the group reiterated that it was reviewing with all parties on how to remove the barriers and find solutions to secure arrival of the POWs and the detainees to their families.

The SPLM/northern sector has been fighting the central government at Blue Nile and South Kordofan areas since 2011.

Last March, the peace talks between the government and the SPLM/northern sector rebels failed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, under the patronage of the African Union.

Khartoum unilaterally signed on a road-map deal proposed by the African mediation, while the SPLM/northern sector and other Darfur rebel movements declined to sign the deal.
Source:XINHUA