Paramilitary Operation in The Sudan—the International Committee of the Red Cross

By Ralph McGehee, Wednesday 1 January 1997

Western intervention in the affairs of other civilizations is probably the single most dangerous source of instability and potential global conflict in a multi-civilizational world.
S. Huntington, 1996.

Another paramilitary operation, this time in The Sudan, recently escalated and hit the news when in early December 1996 the New York Times reported, a John Early, an American pilot—a four-year veteran of the special forces in Vietnam, with a five-year tour with the Rhodesian air force and 10,000 flight hours as a bush pilot for the Red Cross in Sudan, Somalia and Rwanda, led a Red Cross team that was captured by a rebel group in Sudan. He and his co-pilot were returning five of (CIA-backed rebel leader) Garang’s wounded rebels from a field hospital in northeast Kenya to their base 60 miles northeast of Gorgial when ambushed and captured. Congressman Bill Richardson, bribed the rebel leader to release the group. The Red Cross said it suspended its operations in the Sudan after the three workers were captured. New York Times 12/9/06 A1,6.

Possibly another indication of the involvement of the Red Cross in clandestine activities was the murder of six Red Cross workers in Chechnya on 12/18/96 probably due to suspicion of spying— Slain Red Cross Aides Lived with Danger. A few weeks before the killings armed men robbed the hospital complex and left a note saying that [they] were spies and hypocrites. New York Times 12/19/96 A1,10. The Washington Post editorialized and said unidentified murderers killed six workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) a Swiss organization partly funded by the United States. Washington Post 12/20/96 A26. Such operations appear similar to the 1980s long-term operation in Pakistan and Afghanistan—paramililtary operations need huge support mechanisms such as those put together for the massive operation in Afghanistan and in this case apparently used the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations to handle the wounded and dying and to conduct general support tasks:

USSR, Afghanistan, Pakistan, 81-92 The Regan Administration linked up several countries in its efforts in Afghanistan—England, Sweden, Germany and France. The Swiss, had a viable operation through the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) that had large hospitals for Afghans in Peshawar and Quetta. The Swedish committee, ran a large medical aid program inside Afghanistan and assistance projects in refugee camps. Little aid at first but five years later, ninety percent of funding came from U.S. through U.N. or USAID. CIA also funding. Covert military aid of CIA was public knowledge, humanitarian aid was almost deep cover. Distribution of humanitarian aid and covert action of CIA frequently became so intertwined that it was difficult to separate them. Gerald Helman, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva coordinated worldwide humanitarian efforts working more for CIA than the State Depaartment. He brought the effort under umbrella of U.N. The French organizations Medicin Sans Frontier (MSF—Doctors Without Borders) set up operations in Peshawar. England’s Afghan Aid had government funding in addition to massive amounts from USAID. Several people known connected with MI6, later SIS, British Intel service. Afghan Aid provided everything from medical to agricultural aid.
Lohbeck, K. (1993). Holy War, Unholy Victory 89-91