** SHORT MENU....

Afghanistan
Concern about growing mine threat
Afghanistan is one of the countries worst contaminated by landmines and
unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
ICRC continues aid
In the month of September alone, over 100,000 people in the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia received relief supplies from the ICRC.

Republic of Guinea
Red Cross / Red Crescent assists nearly 10,000 flood victims Following the
recent flooding in Guinea, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement, whose operations are being coordinated by the ICRC, has taken
urgent steps in Haute-Guinée while waiting for the arrival of other
humanitarian organizations.

Colombia
Quick-impact projects
For several years now, the ICRC has been carrying out "quick-impact
projects" aimed at improving living conditions in urban and rural
communities affected by the internal armed conflict in Colombia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Healthy cities network
On 28 September in Mostar, mayors from 13 cities throughout
Bosnia-Herzegovina signed the founding statement of a "healthy cities"
network.



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Afghanistan
Concern about growing mine threat

Afghanistan is one of the countries worst contaminated by landmines and
unexploded ordnance (UXO). As thousands of Afghans reportedly flee from
urban areas to the countryside or toward the nation's borders, the ICRC is
concerned that this could result in soaring numbers of mine casualties.

"Since the current crisis began, we have received no data on casualties",
said Laurence Desvignes, head of the ICRC's mine-awareness unit. "But
large numbers of people are now attempting to cross mine-infested borders
and the risks are definitely growing." Past conflicts such as Bosnia and
Kosovo had shown that landmines were a huge threat, she went on, when
large numbers of people were on the move, especially off the roads.

>From March 1998 to December 2000, the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan
recorded 2,812 mine/UXO casualties, half of whom were children. Last year,
about one quarter of the country's mine victims were people on the move,
either because they were fleeing war or drought or because of a nomadic
life style.

The ICRC's mine-related work in Afghanistan focuses on medical care,
physical rehabilitation and awareness programmes. Since 1994 the
organization has been supporting the Afghan Red Crescent Society in its
efforts to raise awareness of the mine/UXO risk among the most vulnerable
communities. Through cooperation with mine-clearance agencies and other
humanitarian organizations, the ICRC is promoting a community-based
approach in which awareness raising is part of broader humanitarian work.

"In addition to the awareness-raising activities themselves, we work to
meet subsistence needs and thus free people of the motivation to take
risks," Desvignes explained. "We hope that this will lower the number of
casualties."

The Afghan Red Crescent and the ICRC collect at least 85% of all data on
new mine victims in the country. This is essential for the UN and
mine-action agencies, enabling them as it does to better target, survey,
mark and carry out mine-awareness work.

Supported by the ICRC, the Afghan Red Crescent has set up mobile
rapid-response teams to increase awareness of the mine/UXO danger in
affected areas. Large numbers of victims have been treated in hospitals
and other health-care facilities that receive ICRC assistance. In
addition, the ICRC has set up prosthetic/orthotic centres in Kabul, Herat,
Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Faizabad and Gulbahar to provide landmine
victims and other disabled people free of charge with artificial limbs,
orthotic appliances and rehabilitation. In 2000, the organization's staff
in Afghanistan produced 4,600 artificial limbs, 6,360 orthotic appliances,
10,680 pairs of crutches and 865 wheelchairs.

The ICRC's physical rehabilitation programme in Afghanistan last year
reached the largest number of beneficiaries of any such ICRC programme
worldwide.

Photographic material on landmine/UXO-related work in Afghanistan is also
available. To order, contact Chamrong Lo, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730
20 36

Further information:
Macarena Aguilar, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 21 01
Lena Eskeland, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 24 88
(The ICRC Special Report on Mine Action 2000 is available upon request)


Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
ICRC continues aid

In the month of September alone, over 100,000 people in the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia received relief supplies from the ICRC.
Consisting of food parcels, wheat flour (bought from local Macedonian
suppliers), and hygiene and baby parcels, the aid was aimed at helping
both internally displaced persons and resident civilians in isolated
villages where supply lines remained disrupted. The displaced population
is currently almost equally divided between ethnic Macedonians and ethnic
Albanians. The ICRC is committed to continuing its assistance to all
people still suffering from the direct effects of the conflict according
to its independent assessment of their needs.

The organization is particularly concerned by persistent problems in
villages directly affected by the fighting. Many civilians from both
communities are still afraid to move from place to place, and essential
items such as food, medicines, and salary and pension payments are still
having difficulties reaching them. Because of such problems, delegates are
this week carrying out a relief distribution to some 300 families in the
villages of Semsevo, Rataj and Zilce.

The ICRC has maintained a daily presence in the crisis regions in order to
be able to respond quickly to emerging needs and also to exert a
reassuring influence on people living in fear. This is especially
important for the small number of elderly ethnic Macedonians living
isolated in villages in the Tetovo area such as Lesok and Neprosteno,
where the ICRC has been the only international organization to supply aid
and provide the mobile phones that allow the villagers to keep in touch
with relatives.

Further information: Amanda Williamson, ICRC Skopje, tel. ++389 2 371 951
or ++389 70 340 492


Republic of Guinea
Red Cross / Red Crescent assists nearly
10,000 flood victims

Following the recent flooding in Guinea, the International Red Cross and
Red Crescent Movement, whose operations are being coordinated by the ICRC,
has taken urgent steps in Haute-Guinée while waiting for the arrival of
other humanitarian organizations. From 25 to 27 September, Guinean Red
Cross volunteers carried out an initial distribution of blankets, buckets,
soap and sleeping mats to around 1,000 families, or nearly 10,000 people.

As soon as it was announced that water levels were rising, the volunteers
identified the displaced people in Kankan, in the north of the country.
Most of the supplies distributed came from ICRC stocks, although some were
provided by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies. Similar assistance will be distributed to 125 familles in
Mandiana, near the border with Mali.

National Society volunteers also received training in health education
from the ICRC and the International Federation and were provided with
teaching materials. They are now going to brief the inhabitants of
Haute-Guinée on the basic rules of hygiene and the dangers of waterborne
diseases so as to prevent the outbreak of epidemics.

For several weeks now, Haute-Guinée has been devastated by floods that
have forced several thousand people to flee their homes and have probably
caused extensive damage to the crops.

Further information: Philippe Beauverd, ICRC Conakry,
tel. : ++ 224 41 30 32
For a description of ICRC activities in the Republic of Guinea, please
consult our website: www.icrc.org


Colombia
Quick-impact projects

For several years now, the ICRC has been carrying out "quick-impact
projects" aimed at improving living conditions in urban and rural
communities affected by the internal armed conflict in Colombia. With the
help of local residents, it builds, enlarges and refurbishes schools,
community centres, health posts, sports centres, walkways, libraries and
rural homes.

Since they were launched in June 1999, some 50 of the 75 projects so far
approved have been implemented, benefiting over 226,000 people in 23 of
the country's 32 departments. All the projects have been carried out in
areas affected by the fighting, where the ICRC maintains a constant
dialogue with the parties to the conflict. The ICRC is the only
humanitarian organization present in about half of these areas.

Most recently, a community centre was built for 120 displaced children
whose families have taken refuge in the city of Puerto Asís, in the
Putumayo department of southern Colombia.

Over the coming months, some projects will be completed and others started
up in an effort to further improve the living conditions of conflict
victims and strengthen the ties between displaced people and local
residents.

Further information: Carlos Ríos, ICRC Bogota, tel. ++571 313 86 30


Bosnia-Herzegovina
Healthy cities network

On 28 September in Mostar, mayors from 13 cities throughout
Bosnia-Herzegovina signed the founding statement of a "healthy cities"
network. The event, part of the World Health Organization's Health 21
strategy, under which similar networks have been set up worldwide,
required months of preparation and was supported from the outset by the
ICRC and the National Red Cross Society.

According to ICRC primary-health-care (PHC) manager Irma Sladic, the
signing was "the culmination of an enormous effort by the PHC team to help
establish such a network".

The ICRC's "healthy communities" programme in Bosnia-Herzegovina is based
on the WHO principle of Health for All. Through the programme, which
includes peer group work among doctors and nurses, the ICRC and the
National Society facilitate community health-reform projects in
cooperation with local social services across the country.

The success of these projects convinced the PHC team that joining WHO's
healthy cities network could yield tangible results, in particular by
strengthening the existing grassroots approach to health care advocated
through the healthy communities programme.

In his opening address, Knud Matzon, Director of WHO's Collaborating
Centre for Healthy Cities in Horsens, Denmark, underscored the supportive
role of the Red Cross. "The Red Cross has been a catalyst", he said. "I'm
very glad it has been a partner in setting up the network here."

In signing the founding statement, Bosnia-Herzegovina's mayors declared
themselves "eager to cooperate, in a spirit of solidarity and mutual
respect, with communities and networks sharing the same vision within the
European healthy cities movement".

Further information: Jessica Barry, ICRC Sarajevo, tel. ++ 387 33 652 407


During the weekend of 6 - 7 October 2001, for all information please call
the press officer on duty Darcy Christen, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 31