ICRC has its largest operation in the world in Sudan

From Sudan Radio Service 30 April 2009 (Juba):

The International Committee of the Red Cross has revealed that Sudan is its largest operation in the world, with a budget of over 90,000 million USD in 2009.

An ICRC spokesman, Saleh Dabagge, told journalists at a workshop in Juba that most of the money is spent in Darfur:

[Saleh Dabagge]: “The ICRC has its largest operation in the world in Sudan and this year, 2009, our budget is about 92,000 million USD for the whole of Sudan. But because of the crisis in Darfur and because the ICRC mandate covers before anything else the situation of armed conflict, most of our budget, I think around 80 or 85 percent of this budget, goes to Darfur because of the armed conflict taking place there.”

Saleh added that the ICRC is mainly involved in dialoguing with partners in conflict to avoid violation of international humanitarian law. It also visits prisoners of war, tracks unaccompanied minors, and re-unites family members.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been working in Sudan since 1978 mainly in the eastern part as a result of the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It started operating in south Sudan in 1986.