GENEVA: Sudan's warring parties have agreed to the release of more than 100 prisoners of war following mediation by the Red Cross,the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.
A total of 125 army soldiers held by the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were able to return to their families before the feast of sacrifice Eid al Adha, according to the ICRC.
Among them were 44 wounded, the organisation said. The group was taken from Khartoum to Wad Madani, south of the capital.
Similarly, 14 wounded were released on Monday with the help of the ICRC in the western state of Darfur.
"Through our dialogue with all parties to the conflict, our role is to ensure that humanitarian principles are respected and that detainees are treated with humanity throughout the release and transfer process," the ICRC said on Twitter.
The organisation maintains strict neutrality in armed conflicts with the aim of caring for victims.
It visits prisoners on both sides of conflicts and helps them stay in contact with their families. It also organises the release or exchange of prisoners at the request of parties to the conflict, as in this case.
All states are obliged under international humanitarian law to grant the ICRC access to prisoners, but not all comply. The ICRC rarely gives details of operations because it promises warring parties confidentiality.
Since mid-April, a long-simmering power struggle between de facto president Abdel Fattah al Burhan and former vice-president and RSF head Mohammed Hamdan Daglo has been violently fought out in Sudan.
Besides the capital Khartoum, the Darfur region in the west of the country, which has been torn apart by ethnic conflicts for decades,is particularly affected by the fighting.
Negotiations between the parties to the conflict are currently on hold. About 2 million have been internally displaced due to the violence and some 500,000 have fled to neighbouring countries. Both sides had declared a ceasefire for Eid al Adha, but past ceasefire declarations have not been observed. — dpa
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