NGOs Registered in France and Switzerland Mourn the Death of Osman Ahmed in Kassala

2016-09-27 18:15:43 Written by  By Work Friends Published in EPDP News Read 4864 times

The passing away of  Osman Ahmed, an Eritrean freedom fighter and humanitarian activist in Kassala, Sudan, on 26 September 2016, was deeply mourned by two non-profit associations  registered in France and Switzerland whose main objectives have been supporting projects for the education of refugee children and taking care of disabled Eritreans and former freedom fighters who lacked support of close  family members.

Osman Ahmed served for many years as the director and supervisor, respectively, of the Centre for Disabled Persons in Kassala and the Wad-Sherifey Refugee School near Kassala in the Eritrea-Sudan border. The Association for Disabled Eritreans (ADE), legally registered in France  15 years ago, with branches in many parts of the world, has been taking care for nearly 30 disabled persons in Kassala. The Geneva-based Swiss association for Eritrean children (ASEE, in French: Associaiton Suise Enfance-Erythree) has been supporting for 11 years the Wad-Sherifey Refugee School with over 600 needy refugee children who are taught in Eritrean curriculum and languages.

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Soon after learning about the untimely death of Osman Ahmed, the president of ADE, Tesfai Teklezghi in France, and Sophia Ammar, representative of the ASEE executive committee in Geneva, issued messages expressing deep loss to family members of the deceased as well as to the beneficiaries of the humanitarian projects they support in East Sudan.

ADE posted its condolence message in Eritrean websites, while ASEE sent its condolence message to the family and the school through Dr. Habtemichael Tekle, who heads the overall administrative responsibility of the Wad-Sherifey School as president of the Eritrean Red Cross-Crescent Society (ERCCS). In his turn, Dr. Habtemichael also reassured ASEE that he and his colleagues will do all what is possible to continue the work vacated by the loss of Osman Ahmed. Meanwhile, Father Ghebrai Bedemariam, an Eritrean priest in Kassala who used to channel ASEE support to the Wad-Sherifey Refugee School expressed to ASEE his shock and dismay of the passing away of Osman whom he described as a reliable work colleague and "so gentle,  sociable and humble" compatriot. During the past several years, both ADE and ASEE received regular situation and financial reports and related updates of their respective projects in Kassala and Wad-Sherifey.

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The deceased activist, Osman Ahmed, was born in the mid-1950s in a township near Asmara and joined the Eritrean liberation struggle at the age of 20, and lost his right-arm in one of the fierce battles in the liberation war. In recent years, he suffered of kidney problem but was recently promised by UNHCR to have a kidney transplant outside Sudan. It was while the arrangement of his travel were underway that he suddenly passed away in the early hours of 26 September. In spite of his lost of his right arm and the kidney complications, Osman Ahmed never ceased providing his reliable services to the beneficiaries at the humanitarian projects he closely took care of.

Last modified on Tuesday, 27 September 2016 20:33