The World - News from Feb. 17, 1989

The International Committee of the Red Cross has suspended an airlift of relief supplies to southern Sudan during negotiations with anti-government rebels, a spokesman said in Geneva. Relief flights were stopped Tuesday after the Sudan People’s Liberation Army demanded changes in the Red Cross’ notification procedure for its flights to a number of cities, spokesman Juerg Bischoff said. To ensure safe passage, the Red Cross notifies both the Khartoum government and the rebels of all relief flights. Bischoff said the negotiations concern “technical issues” and that he expects the airlift, begun Dec. 4, to resume “in a matter of days.”