CAIRO – Around 300 children have been evacuated from an orphanage in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, where scores of orphans were discovered dead last month as a result of surrounding fighting between opposing military forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which organized the evacuation late Wednesday, said the children aged one to fifteen had been transported to a safer site in Wad Madani, around 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Khartoum.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported in its original statement that 280 children and 70 caregivers had been evacuated, but an ICRC representative indicated the number of evacuated youngsters had climbed to 300 by Thursday morning.
Siddig Frini, general manager of the Khartoum state ministry of social development, which controls care centers, corroborated that figure.
The evacuation was “a ray of light in the midst of the ongoing conflict in Sudan,” according to Mandeep O’Brien, the UNICEF representative in Sudan.
Reuters reported on May 29 that at least 50 children, many of them babies, had perished at the state-run orphanage known as Mygoma since the violence began in Khartoum on April 15.
The deaths, according to an orphanage official and a doctor who works there, were primarily caused by malnourishment, dehydration, and infections, as most personnel were kept away by the fighting.
Hadhreen, a volunteer organisation that has been assisting at the orphanage, confirmed the deaths of 71 children in the orphanage since the conflict began on Wednesday.
There has been no official death toll released. Before the battle, the orphanage housed approximately 400 young children.
Frini refused to disclose death toll figures. The orphanage director and the health ministry could not be reached immediately.
“Many millions of children remain at risk across Sudan,” warned UNICEF’s O’Brien. “This conflict endangers their lives and futures on a daily basis.”
Source: Reuters
