ICRC News 23 / 22-Jun-00

** SHORT MENU....

Angola: Agricultural aid on central Planalto:
The ICRC has begun distributing seed and agricultural implements to over
60,000 families in Huambo, on Angola's Planalto. Some of the families are
local to the area, others have been displaced by the fighting. The aid will
go both to families already assisted in 1999 and newly arrived people who
have access to arable land.

Burkina Faso: Information day:
The ICRC joined with the Burkinabe Red Cross Society on 16 June to hold a
Red Cross information day in the capital Ouagadougou. It was attended by 36
representatives of organizations from civil society, the independent and
official press, and municipal authorities.

Democratic Republic of Congo conflict: Repatriation of 177 prisoners of war
by the ICRC:
On 16 and 17 June, following agreements between the authorities of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Namibia, the ICRC
repatriated 177 former prisoners of war (POWs) of Rwandan, Zimbabwean and
Namibian nationality who had been detained by the various belligerents in
the Congo.


** STORIES IN FULL...

Angola
Agricultural aid on central Planalto

The ICRC has begun distributing seed and agricultural implements to over
60,000 families in Huambo, on Angola's Planalto. Some of the families are
local to the area, others have been displaced by the fighting. The aid will
go both to families already assisted in 1999 and newly arrived people who
have access to arable land.

The distributions will continue until the end of July, when seed intended
for dry season crops will be provided. In addition to one hoe per family,
the beneficiaries will receive packages of garden-vegetable seed plus a
total of 305 tonnes of maize seed, 305 tonnes of bean seed and 50 tonnes of
seed potatoes.

The ICRC will also furnish 305 tonnes of fertilizer to improve yields from
the area's exhausted land. Delegates have organized a project to encourage
people to produce their own fertilizer in the form of compost, as they once
did traditionally.

Beneficiary families living from crops harvested last April will receive
half food rations (flour, beans, cooking oil and salt) to make it
unnecessary for them to consume the seeds that they receive. Meanwhile,
monthly food rations are continuing to be distributed to the 21,260
displaced people housed in centres at Caala, Cuando and Cruzeiro.

Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 22 81




Burkina Faso
Information day

The ICRC joined with the Burkinabe Red Cross Society on 16 June to hold a
Red Cross information day in the capital Ouagadougou. It was attended by 36
representatives of organizations from civil society, the independent and
official press, and municipal authorities.

Burkina Faso has regularly been the scene of violent demonstrations since
journalist Norbert Zongo was murdered in December 1998. The aim of the
day's organizers was to familiarize members of the country's civil society
(from which the protests have largely sprung) with the working procedures
of the Red Cross and the basic rules of international humanitarian law,
though it should be pointed out that during previous demonstrations
organized by Collectif contre l'impunite, Red Cross volunteers have been
able to work unhindered and take the injured to hospital.

Similar meetings are now being planned in Bobo Dioulasso and Ouahigouya,
two of Burkina Faso's other major centres. Both the independent and
official press have covered the Ouagadougou meeting thoroughly, in
particular with interviews of leading officials of the Burkinabe Red Cross
and the ICRC delegate based in Bamako.

Further information: Jean-Jacques Tshamala, ICRC Bamako, tel. ++223 211 591
Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 2281


Democratic Republic of Congo conflict
Repatriation of 177 prisoners of war by the ICRC

On 16 and 17 June, following agreements between the authorities of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Namibia, the ICRC
repatriated 177 former prisoners of war (POWs) of Rwandan, Zimbabwean and
Namibian nationality who had been detained by the various belligerents in
the Congo. The ICRC acted at the request of the parties to the conflict in
its capacity as a neutral intermediary, and carried out the operation in
accordance with its mandate. The POWs had all been registered and regularly
visited by the ICRC during the period of their captivity.

An ICRC aircraft was used to bring 35 Zimbabwean and 11 Namibian former
POWs from Kigali, in Rwanda, to the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Friday
before returning to Kigali with 88 Rwandan ex-POWs on board. The next day,
another plane took the 35 Zimbabweans from Kinshasa onward to Harare and an
additional 43 Rwandan ex-POWs from Harare to Kigali. ICRC delegates were on
board all flights.

The ICRC will continue to make its services available to all parties to the
conflict in order to promote compliance with the provisions of
international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions of
1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.

Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 22 81


During the weekend of
24 - 25 June 2000, for all information please call the press officer on
duty Suzanne Berger, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 37