JUBA, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Saturday that one of its staff members was killed on Friday in western South Sudan while helping to deliver aid to victims of the armed conflict.
ICRC said in a statement that it was shocked and dismayed by the killing of its driver, Lukudu Kennedy Laki Emmanuel, who was killed after an ICRC convoy of nine trucks and a four-wheel-drive vehicle was shot at by unknown assailants.
The relief agency said the convoy was returning from an assistance operation in Western Equatoria.
"We are shaken and distraught by the killing of our colleague who was traveling in a convoy of vehicles which were clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem. In addition, all parties to the conflict in the area had been duly notified about our presence," said François Stamm, the ICRC's head of delegation in Juba.
Stamm added that Kennedy joined its team in 2014 as a truck driver in Juba. He is married and leaves behind seven children. ICRC said it is assessing the implications of this killing on its operations in the area.
According to UN, South Sudan has become a hostile environment for aid workers. Since the outbreak of civil war in the East African country in 2013, more than 80 aid workers have been killed, including 16 this year alone.
Under international humanitarian law, intentional attacks against humanitarian relief personnel may constitute war crimes.
The relief agency called on all those involved in the conflict to protect the civilian population and to ensure that humanitarian workers can perform their duties, adding that the red cross emblem must be respected at all times.
South Sudan has been embroiled in more than three years of conflict that has taken a devastating toll on the people of South Sudan.
The peace pact signed in Addis Ababa in 2015 under intense international pressure was shattered again following renewed violence between rival government and opposition troops in the capital Juba in July 2016.
The conflict has since spread to other regions which enjoyed relative peace, causing mass displacement of at least 3.5 million people from their homes, ethnic polarization and tribal violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.
