ICRC News 07 / 02-Mar-00

** SHORT MENU....

Nigeria: Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement aids victims of violence in
Kaduna:
Following the clashes between Christians and Moslems that erupted in Kaduna
on 21February, the Nigerian Red Cross Society, with the support of the ICRC
and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies,
has been mobilizing its resources to assist the victims of the violence.

Angola: Paula goes home to Malanje:
As the aircraft approached Malanje, east of Luanda, Paula exclaimed:
"Malanje e bonito, Malanje e bonito!". It's true: Malanje and its lush
green surroundings are beautiful seen from the air. Paula was going home at
last after spending three weeks in Huambo.

Morocco/Western Sahara: Repatriation of 186 Moroccan prisoners:
On 26 February the ICRC repatriated 186 Moroccan prisoners released by the
Polisario Front on humanitarian grounds.



** STORIES IN FULL...

Nigeria
Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement aids victims
of violence in Kaduna

Following the clashes between Christians and Moslems that erupted in Kaduna
on 21February, the Nigerian Red Cross Society, with the support of the ICRC
and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies,
has been mobilizing its resources to assist the victims of the violence.

Distribution of relief supplies began on 28 February after a survey of the
damage and an assessment of needs. An estimated 80,000 people have taken
refuge in 11 locations, including army camps and police barracks.

The Nigerian Red Cross National Officer for Training and Emergency
Preparedness is in Kaduna to supervise the distribution of relief, which
includes dressings and other medical material, mats, blankets, used
clothing, jerrycans, cups, plates, cooking pots and rolls of plastic
sheeting. Sixty tonnes of food consisting of rice, beans, garri, vegetable
oil, salt and sugar are also on hand. It is planned to give out some 10,000
family rations per day.

The dressings and medical supplies are being delivered to hospitals in
Kaduna which have admitted a total of 738 wounded, distributed as follows:
44 Army Reference Hospital (305wounded), ABU Teaching Hospital (80),
General Hospital (15), Specialist Hospital (30), Moslem Islamic Institute
Hospital (38), and NAF Hospital (270).

The Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Red Cross was helped by teams from the
Plateau, Katsina and Abuja branches in assessing the situation and
determining the aid the National Society could bring to the victims. More
than 60 volunteers, both Christian and Moslem, are already on the spot. 

Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2281, or
mobile ++4179 217 3217
Jean-Jacques Gacond, ICRC Lagos, tel. ++2341 269 1881

Angola
Paula goes home to Malanje

As the aircraft approached Malanje, east of Luanda, Paula exclaimed:
"Malanje e bonito, Malanje e bonito!". It's true: Malanje and its lush
green surroundings are beautiful seen from the air. Paula was going home at
last after spending three weeks in Huambo.

She was thinking, perhaps, of Christmas 1997, the day that changed her
life. Paula, aged 15at the time, had been to her sister's for Christmas
dinner. On her return, she tripped over an electric cable in front of her
parents' house. Normally no harm would have been done - but the cable was
attached to a landmine. Paula lost her left leg.

At the end of 1998 Paula's family was forced by the war to leave home and
seek refuge in Luanda, staying there until it was safe to go back early
this year. Scarcely a week after the family had returned to Malanje, Paula
was boarding an ICRC plane with 10 other residents of the town on her way
to the ICRC's Bomba Alta physical rehabilitation centre in Huambo to be
fitted with - and to get used to - a replacement for her artificial limb.

Today Paula is making plans for the future. She wants to study medicine so
that she can help amputees who, like herself, will have to return to a
rehabilitation centre about every two years for the rest of their lives.

The transfer of amputees from provinces with no limb-fitting facilities to
ICRC centres, run in cooperation with the Angolan Ministry of Health,
resumed last month after being interrupted by the new upsurge in fighting
at the end of 1998. In 1999 the ICRC treated 1,547 patients in its three
centres located in Luanda, Huambo et Kuito. Of these, 1,237 were victims of
anti-personnel mines.

Further information: Francoise Zambellini, ICRC Luanda, tel. ++2442 364 454
Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2281, or mobile ++4179 217 3217

Morocco/Western Sahara
Repatriation of 186 Moroccan prisoners

On 26 February the ICRC repatriated 186 Moroccan prisoners released by the
Polisario Front on humanitarian grounds. Escorted by an ICRC team, the men
left Tindouf, Algeria, aboard an aircraft chartered by the organization and
were handed over to the Moroccan authorities on arrival at the Inezgane
military base near Agadir. The ICRC, which had offered its services as a
neutral intermediary, acted with the agreement of all the parties
concerned.

Before the operation, ICRC delegates had interviewed the prisoners
individually to check that they were being repatriated of their own free
will. They were all allowed to take their personal effects with them.

The ICRC is pleased to have been able to repatriate these prisoners, most
of them sick and elderly. It remains concerned, however, about the plight
of the remaining 1,686 Moroccan prisoners, some of whom have been in
captivity for 25 years, and trusts that a solution will be found so that
they can return to their homes in the near future. ICRC delegates visit
them every year and provide them with aid, mainly medical. The ICRC also
enables the prisoners to exchange news regularly with their families by
means of Red Cross messages.

The ICRC will spare no effort to ensure that the families of persons who
remain unaccounted for since the end of the conflict are one day informed
of the fate of their relatives.

Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2307


During the weekend of 4 - 5 March 2000, for all information please call the
press officer on duty Amanda Williamson, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 16