ICRC directors console family of slain staff Saifura Korsa

Global Director of Operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr. Dominik Stillhart, and ICRC deputy director for African operations, Mr. Patrick Youssef, yesterday completed a two-day visit to the family of slain ICRC worker, Mr. Saifura Hussein Ahmad Korsa The officials formally presented their condolences to the family of Ahmad Korsa, who was killed in a horrific act of brutality on 16 September leading to international outrage.
It will be recalled that Saifura was abducted in Rann, Borno state on 01 March 2018, together with two other health workers who remain in captivity: Hauwa Mohamed Liman and Alice Loksha Ngaddah.
Saifura and Hauwa worked as midwives in an ICRC-supported health care clinic in Rann, managed by the Nigerian Ministry of Health.
The ICRC senior management also met Hauwa’s family to transmit messages of support and solidarity on behalf of colleagues.
“I travelled from our headquarters in Geneva to Maiduguri to pay tribute to our late colleague Saifura and to give my respects to her family in person,” said Stillhart.
“I also wanted to re¬assure them and Hauwa ’s family of our continuous support.
Hauwa’s family still live with the agony of separation, and I was deeply moved by the despair and anxiety her parents are feeling.
No parent should ever be put in such a situation!” Stillhart said.
Following the abduction of the three women, the ICRC spared no efforts to persuade their captors to release them safely.
During h the visit, Stillhart reiterated the plea to the group holding them, saying, “We are appealing again to those holding Hauwa and Alice to release them safely as soon as possible.
They are health care workers and must be protected!” On Wednesday, the two senior leaders also met with the VicePresident of Nigeria and other officials in Abuja, with whom they discussed the plight of the remaining hostages and severe challenges faced by humanitarian workers in northeastern Nigeria.
“These tragic events will certainly have an impact on our capacity to deliver much needed aid to people affected by the armed conflict in the north-east of Nigeria.
Nevertheless, we remain committed to continue responding to the tremendous humanitarian needs in what remains one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time in Africa, while doing everything possible to ensure the safety of our teams.
”- concluded Stillhart.
Between January and September 2018, almost half a million people in north-eastern and north-central Nigeria received health care services in ICRC-supported clinics, where 15,500 children were born and almost 7,400 children suffering from malnutrition received treatment.