ICRC suspends Relief operations in Leer after gunshots fired at compound

Episode 256,   Apr 23, 2018, 03:34 PM

A distribution of seeds and farming tools for approximately 24,600 people was interrupted after armed men attacked the International Committee of the Red Cross’ compound in Leer, #SouthSudan, resulting into evacuation of staff  and suspension of program activities. 

A statement from the ICRC says gunshots were directly fired at the ICRC field base in Leer just after midnight on April 10th. 

Leer was one of the locations where famine was officially declared last year and has been a flashpoint in the country’s nearly five-year-long armed conflict. 

 ICRC Communications Officer Mari Aftret Mortvedt,  explains what happened.