ICRC News 20 / 31-May-00
ICRC News 20 / 31-May-00
** SHORT MENU....
Sierra Leone: Seed distribution resumes:
The ICRC is beginning to distribute vital supplies of seed and tools once
again to some 40,000 destitute farmers, most of whom have been displaced
from their homes by the fighting over the last few years.
Sri Lanka: Help for the displaced:
The current upsurge in the fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan security forces on the Jaffna peninsula has
caused large numbers of civilians to flee their homes and seek refuge
elsewhere in public buildings and with friends and relatives.
Indonesia / North Maluku: Red Cross aids displaced people:
Last week, staff from the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross Society
distributed non-food relief items to 8,000 people who had fled their homes
owing to violence between Christian and Muslim communities in the southern
part of North Maluku province.
Paraguay: ICRC visits people detained after abortive coup:
In a measure ratified by congress following the attempted military coup
d'Etat on 19 May, the government of Paraguay declared a 30-day state of
emergency. It also arrested more than 100 people - both military and
civilian - suspected of involvement in the coup.
Somalia: Local community takes up new challenge:
The Medina Hospital, once the largest in Somalia, reopened in southern
Mogadishu on 28 May after standing idle for nearly eight years. It had been
known as the Police Hospital before the collapse of the Siad Barre regime
in 1991.
Yugoslavia / Kosovo: The missing - a lasting wound:
The ICRC in Pristina and Belgrade is holding a series of events to explain
how it goes about finding out what happened to the thousands of people who
went missing during the Kosovo conflict.
** STORIES IN FULL...
Sierra Leone
Seed distribution resumes
The ICRC is beginning to distribute vital supplies of seed and tools once
again to some 40,000 destitute farmers, most of whom have been displaced
from their homes by the fighting over the last few years. The seed is
urgently needed before the end, in mid-June, of the planting season for
upland rice, a staple in Sierra Leone. If the programme goes to plan, more
than 200,000 people in Pujehun, Kenema, Kailahun and Tonkolili districts
should be able to feed themselves when the next harvest comes. (The World
Food Programme has agreed to provide some food to tide the farmers over
until then.)
The distributions had been interrupted by recent clashes near Masiaka along
the main road from Freetown to Kenema and because of the general lack of
security in the country. However, since the beginning of the week, the ICRC
has begun distributions to 2,000 families in Kenema district from existing
stocks in its warehouses in the area.
However, reaching tens of thousands more people depends on work to repair
the Mabang bridge, which is situated on a safer, alternate route that
passes south of the recent fighting between rebels of the Revolutionary
United Front and allies of the government. The bridge has been impassable
for trucks for several years but the ICRC hopes to have it rebuilt by the
end of the week, thus opening up a new supply route for the ICRC and for
civilian and commercial traffic between Freetown and the southern
provinces. The ICRC's operation to provide seed, tools and other items
essential for survival is the largest of its kind in Sierra Leone.
Further information: Chris Bowers, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 20 61
Sri Lanka
Help for the displaced
The current upsurge in the fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan security forces on the Jaffna peninsula has
caused large numbers of civilians to flee their homes and seek refuge
elsewhere in public buildings and with friends and relatives.
Whenever the security situation permits, ICRC staff go in to assess the
needs of the displaced population. With the help of the Sri Lanka Red Cross
Society, the ICRC has registered 3,250 families (some 12,000 persons) and
distributed non-food relief at centres in Walikamam West and Point Pedro on
the Jaffna peninsula. In the Wanni area, to the south of the peninsula, 241
families (1,035 people) have received similar aid.
In order to ensure their uninterrupted operation, ICRC delegates constantly
monitor the situation in the hospitals. So far, the Jaffna Teaching
Hospital has admitted 29 civilian wounded, while 52 have been taken to the
hospital in Point Pedro. Thirty-four civilian victims
have been transferred from Mallavi hospital to the hospital in Vavuniya,
which has greater resources with which to treat them.
1
ICRC staff have collected over 290 Red Cross Messages from the displaced
centres in Walikamam West and will distribute them to loved ones from whom
they have been separated.
The weekly voyages of the ICRC-chartered ship Java Gulf resumed on 30 May
when it left Trincomalee for Point Pedro with additional delegates to
reinforce the ICRC team in Jaffna, relief supplies for the displaced and
mail (it provides a key postal link between north and south Sri Lanka). It
is scheduled to leave Point Pedro on 31 May with 13 medical patients on
board. The vessel, which evacuates seriously ill people from the Jaffna
peninsula to hospitals in Colombo and transports government medical
supplies to health-care facilities in Jaffna, had been prevented from
sailing last week because agreement could not be reached between both the
security forces and LTTE regarding the port to be used at the northern end
of the island.
Seven expatriate ICRC delegates and 36 Sri Lankan staff are working out of
the organization's sub-delegation in Jaffna.
Further information, Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 22 24
Indonesia / North Maluku
Red Cross aids displaced people
Last week, staff from the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross Society
distributed non-food relief items to 8,000 people who had fled their homes
owing to violence between Christian and Muslim communities in the southern
part of North Maluku province.
Since its arrival in North Maluku's capital Ternate, where it opened an
office in late March, an ICRC group of medical, relief and logistical
experts has worked jointly with the Indonesian Red Cross to assess the
situation of displaced people in Ternate itself, on the neighbouring
islands of Tidore and Makian, in nearby Jailolo on the coast of Halmahera,
and on the Kayoha, Bacan and Obi groups of islands. The survey results show
that their own coping mechanisms and the limited food assistance provided
by the government and a number of non-governmental organizations are
enabling the displaced people in those areas to feed themselves adequately.
The joint Red Cross team is nevertheless providing non-food assistance in
the form of family parcels (clothing, basic household utensils, hygiene
articles, etc.) in response to specific needs. These distributions, which
started in April and are being carried out by 40 staff and volunteers from
the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross, bring the total of displaced people
so far aided in this way to 34,000.
Further information: Philippe Guinand, ICRC Jakarta, tel. ++ 62 21 720 72
52
Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++ 41 79 202 36 80
Paraguay
ICRC visits people detained after abortive coup
In a measure ratified by congress following the attempted military coup
d'Etat on 19 May, the government of Paraguay declared a 30-day state of
emergency. It also arrested more than 100 people - both military and
civilian - suspected of involvement in the coup. On 29 May, the regional
delegate for southern South America and a medical delegate began visits to
the detainees, who are being held at 12 military and police locations. The
ICRC last visited places of detention in Paraguay in 1989.
The regional delegate had already travelled to Asuncion on 25 May to assess
the situation. While there, he held talks with the Interior, Defence and
Justice Ministers and with senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. Assurances were given to the ICRC that its visits to places of
detention could be carried out in accordance with its standard procedures.
Further information: Maria Inex Peytrignet, ICRC Buenos Aires, tel. ++54 11
4328 7771
Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++44 22 730 2224
Somalia
Local community takes up new challenge
The Medina Hospital, once the largest in Somalia, reopened in southern
Mogadishu on 28 May after standing idle for nearly eight years. It had been
known as the Police Hospital before the collapse of the Siad Barre regime
in 1991. Previous attempts to put the facility back into operation have
failed. Last year, however, local doctors asked the ICRC to do a
feasibility study on its future. As a result, the ICRC decided to repair
the buildings and is now supporting the 55-bed surgical ward for the
treatment of war-wounded people. But it is the local community that is
responsible for actually running the hospital. The administrators are
appointed by community leaders and draw up the budget and conduct
fundraising. ICRC is merely one of the donors and advises on training and
budget planning. Local leaders are also in charge of maintaining security
around the buildings.
Some of the staff of the new hospital have been trained at the Keysane
Hospital, in Mogadishu North, which was set up in the wake of heavy
factional fighting in 1992 and is currently being run by the Somali Red
Crescent Society and fully supported by the ICRC. It remains the main
surgicalreferral facility in southern Somalia.
Further information: Chris Bowers, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 20 61
Yugoslavia / Kosovo
The missing - a lasting wound
The ICRC in Pristina and Belgrade is holding a series of events to explain
how it goes about finding out what happened to the thousands of people who
went missing during the Kosovo conflict. Open-house days at ICRC offices
and special meetings with representatives of the families from the various
communities affected are being organized to explain a process in which the
ICRC is recognized by all the authorities concerned as having a leading
role.
The events will culminate in the publication of a book, in June, containing
the names of 3,376 persons reported to the ICRC as having disappeared
between January 1998 and mid-May 2000, most of them said by their families
to have been detained or abducted.
On 21 and 22 February last, the ICRC officially informed the relevant
authorities in Belgrade and Pristina of the names of missing people that it
had so far gathered, urgently requesting that they provide any information
they may have.
"The 'Book of the Missing' is another step - and an important one - in our
work to find out what has happened to people who have disappeared," said
Andreas Wigger, who heads ICRC operations in the Balkans at the
organization's headquarters. There were families in all communities who had
no way of knowing what happened to their loved ones, he went on. This was
an open wound, and while much international attention was being focused on
reconstruction, security and political issues, it was vital to reassure
those families that their anguish had not been forgotten."
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 79 217 32 37
Nic Sommer, ICRC Pristina, tel. ++ 381 38 501 517
For any information you may need on Thursday 1 June (holiday) or on the
weekend of 3 - 4 June, please call the press officer on duty Suzanne
Berger, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 37