Gereida camp Darfur, Sudan. ©ICRC/B. Heger

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The fate of Gauthier Lefevre, 35, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegate abducted 22 October in the west Darfur region of Sudan, is still uncertain, according to Daniel Duvillard, ICRC’s chief of operations for Eastern Africa, in an interview 29 October.

ICRC confirms that it has received a ransom request, but as a matter of policy it does not pay ransoms. It is using all the channels at its disposal to obtain the release of Lefevre, and insists with his captors that his physical integrity be ensured. ICRC officials managed to speak to him two days after his capture, and he confirmed that he was being well treated.

ICRC has temporarily suspended its operations in West Darfur. But its activities in the rest of Sudan, the organization’s largest worldwide, are ongoing in favour of the populations ravaged by conflict.

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