The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) airlifted its five remaining representatives out of Freetown yesterday on the orders of the Sierra Leonean government, the Committee said today in a statement.
The Committee said it regretted having to leave at a time “when the humanitarian situation is still giving cause for the gravest concern”. Although unable to carry out humanitarian work due to fighting in the city, it said, the presence of the delegates was reassuring to the 180 civilians who had sought help in the ICRC compound, and to the wounded being treated in the ICRC’s Netland surgical hospital. The ICRC said it was ready to resume its humanitarian tasks as soon as it was authorised
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