ICRC News 34 / 30-Aug-01


Democratic Republic of the Congo
Clean water for Kisangani

On 15 August the ICRC inaugurated the Darma water treatment plant in
Kisangani, in north-eastern DRC. The project, designed to supply districts
of the city on the left bank of the Congo river with drinking water, was
carried out in conjunction with Regideso, the national water authority,
and funded by the ICRC. It is only one of a series of aid projects set up
to produce and distribute safe water in Kisangani, which has a population
of over 500,000.

Addressing those present at the inauguration, the ICRC engineer in charge,
Nicola Capuzzo, stressed the close cooperation between Regideso and the
ICRC. "The ICRC has been working on the springs that supply this plant
since 1999", he explained. "At the outset, only 14 springs were still
being tapped, the plant was closed and the inhabitants of the left bank
had no access to safe water."

The ICRC financed the renovation of buildings and the purchase of
electromechanical equipment for the Darma plant. Since the beginning of
this year it has also repaired the sand filters of the city's two main
water-supply facilities, Tshopo I et II.

In addition the ICRC has flown in the chemicals needed to purify water for
Kisangani, the DRC's third largest city, which is cut off from the rest of
the country by the war and the absence of a road network. The
ICRC-chartered aircraft is a link with the outside world, and the work of
the ICRC engineers gives the population access to safe water despite the
conflict.

Thanks to this type of aid, some two million people living in the
opposition-controlled area of the DRC now have supplies of clean water.
ICRC water and sanitation teams are currently working on similar projects
in large urban centres such as Kalemie, Bukavu, Uvira et Goma.

Further information: Jean-Jacques Simon, ICRC Goma, tel. ++250 083 00 461


The Third World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance opens on 31st August 2001 in Durban,
South Africa. The ICRC has been actively participating in conference
preparations with a view to reminding governments and other players that
non-discrimination is not only a guiding principle of human rights law,
but also a basic tenet of international humanitarian law.  Racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance are not just problems
that individual nations and the international community need to address in
peacetime. It is equally important to address them in times of armed
conflict as well. As a number of recent and ongoing conflicts around the
world clearly show, the inequality or exclusion of peoples, groups and
individuals is one of the root causes of conflict and, very often, one of
its consequences.

For further information, please contact Tienie Fourier, ICRC Pretoria,
tel. ++ 27 82 334 53 60 or consult our website http://www.icrc.org


For any information you may need on the weekend of 1 - 2 September please
call Macarena Aguilar, duty press officer, on: 41 79 217 32 64(mobile) and
on Thursday 6 September (holiday) please call Antonella Notari, duty press
officer, on: 41 79 217 32 80 (mobile)