France condemns attack on Red Cross in Sudan

The ICRC said gunmen killed two drivers and injured three staff in South Darfur. (AFP/File)

PARIS: France on Friday condemned “in the strongest terms” an attack on an International Committee of the Red Cross convoy in war-torn Sudan that killed two staff and injured three others.
“France calls on all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, which obliges them to protect humanitarian and health staff and guarantee complete, safe and unhindered humanitarian access,” said French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine.
The ICRC said gunmen killed two drivers and injured three staff in South Darfur on Thursday as they returned from a humanitarian mission.
A brutal conflict between the Sudanese army led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of his ex-deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has torn the country apart for more than a year.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions more to flee their homes in what the United Nations has called the “largest displacement crisis in the world.”
It has also triggered acute food shortages and a humanitarian crisis that has left the northeast African country’s people at risk of starvation.