ICRC News 42 / 25-Oct-01


** SHORT MENU....

Israel, the occupied and the autonomous territories
ICRC responds to urgent humanitarian needs on West Bank
In response to growing needs following the recent violence on the West
Bank, the ICRC has stepped up its efforts to provide humanitarian aid and
to act as a neutral intermediary wherever it can.

Democratic Republic of the Congo
ICRC reunites 47 children with their families
On 25 October, the ICRC flew twenty-two unaccompanied children from the
Congolese capital Kinshasa to the opposition-held city of Goma in the east
of the country. The children, separated from their families since fighting
restarted in August 1998, were taken home in an aircraft chartered
specially for the occasion by the ICRC.

Iraq
Rehabilitation of medical facilities completed
By the end of October, the ICRC will have concluded a major phase in the
rehabilitation of medical infrastructure in Iraq.

Central African Republic / Chad
War-surgery seminars in Bangui and N'Djamena
The ICRC held a war-surgery seminar in Bangui from 16 to 19 October in
cooperation with the Central African Republic's Ministry of Public Health
and Population and Ministry of Defence. A similar seminar is currently
taking place in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad.

Armenia
Milestone in fight against TB
Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious cause of death among
adults - ahead of other respiratory infections, diarrhoea, AIDS and
malaria. Every year it kills two million people. For various reasons,
prisons have become the major breeding ground for tuberculosis in the
countries of the former Soviet Union.


** STORIES IN FULL...

Israel, the occupied and the autonomous territories ICRC responds to
urgent humanitarian needs on West Bank

In response to growing needs following the recent violence on the West
Bank, the ICRC has stepped up its efforts to provide humanitarian aid and
to act as a neutral intermediary wherever it can.

In Ramallah and Bethlehem, ICRC staff intervened between Israeli and
Palestinian authorities to negotiate safe passage for members of the
Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) delivering bread and milk to
civilians unable to leave their homes. They also negotiated a one-hour
lifting of the curfew that has been imposed on Ramallah for several days,
to allow the civilian population to go out and stock up on food, water and
other necessities.

In one incident, 70 civilians were trapped in an apartment building in
Bethlehem, unable even to move from room to room because of continuous
shooting. They contacted the ICRC and asked for a delegate to negotiate
their access to other parts of their homes, particularly kitchens and
bathrooms. This was done, and the delegate also managed to evacuate 12
people, including a pregnant woman, from the building to King Hussein
Hospital.

Following ICRC representations, PRCS ambulances were allowed to transport
a dozen people in need of special medical care from Tulkarem to the
hospital in Nablus. To help a patient who was too ill to be moved, the
ICRC negotiated safe passage for two medical personnel, including a
surgeon, to the town of Qualkiliya, still under strict closure. The
surgeon subsequently performed complicated chest surgery in the local
hospital and saved the patient's life.

On 20 and 21 October, ICRC trucks transported emergency medical supplies
from the Ministry of Health warehouse in Ramallah to four hospitals in
Jenin, Bethlehem and Hebron. This was especially appreciated by 40
dialysis patients in Hebron, who were in dire need of the medicines
required to treat their condition.

On Wednesday 24 October ICRC staff facilitated the transport of two
wounded villagers and the mortal remains of five others from Beit Rima to
Ramallah hospital. Three PRCS ambulances standing by at the entrance to
Beit Rima had not been allowed to enter the village since the early hours
of Wednesday morning, but the villagers told the ICRC over the telephone
that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) medical services and a Magen David Adom
ambulance inside the village were taking care of the wounded. Later the
IDF handed over the casualties and the PRCS vehicles headed for Ramallah
hospital with the wounded and dead on board. They reached their
destination after passing through a last checkpoint, which also had to be
negotiated by the ICRC.

Further information: Aleksandra Matijevic, ICRC Jerusalem, tel. (mobile)
972 5 773 5235

Democratic Republic of the Congo
ICRC reunites 47 children with their families
On 25 October, the ICRC flew twenty-two unaccompanied children from the
Congolese capital Kinshasa to the opposition-held city of Goma in the east
of the country. The children, separated from their families since fighting
restarted in August 1998, were taken home in an aircraft chartered
specially for the occasion by the ICRC. The day before, twenty-five
children aged between 5 and 15 had made the trip in the opposite direction
- from Goma to Kinshasa - where they too were reunited with their
families.

Split families are among the most tragic human consequences of any armed
conflict. With the aid of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, the ICRC is working incessantly to reunite unaccompanied
children with their parents - or with relatives who can look after them.

So far this year, the ICRC has reunited 283 unaccompanied children with
their families, both in the area under government control and in the
regions under control of the armed opposition. The ICRC is planning to
carry out two more operations to reunite families before the end of the
year.

Family reunification movements are also taking place between the RDC and
other countries in the Great Lakes region. This year, 487 Rwandan children
and eight from Burundi have returned to their home countries and been
reunited with their families. Further information: Antoine Tawamba, ICRC
Kinshasa, Tel.: ++ 243 12 341 91

Iraq
Rehabilitation of medical facilities completed

By the end of October, the ICRC will have concluded a major phase in the
rehabilitation of medical infrastructure in Iraq.

On 25 October, the 300-bed general hospital in Ta'mim governorate is to be
handed over to the local health authorities after undergoing major repairs
to the burn, emergency and infectious disease units, laboratories, kitchen
and laundry facilities. A new water-supply system has also been installed
there.

Baghdad's Al Rashad psychiatric hospital and the 350-bed Hilla general
surgical hospital in Babil governorate were handed over on 21 and 22
October, following a year of extensive work. New underground and elevated
water tanks and a new waste-water pumping station were built for the Hilla
hospital.

Renovation work on two primary health-care centres serving some 80,000
people in the towns of Diyala and Al-Gharbi, in Ninawa governorate, was
completed on 24 October. A training programme will also be set up to
improve the quality of health services. The ICRC has now rehabilitated 12
such centres throughout the country, covering the needs of an estimated
520,000 people, for a total cost of 700,000 US dollars.

Work on the large Basra teaching hospital, which serves all of southern
Iraq (around 1.5 million people), began in 1999 and should be completed by
2002. Apart from renovating the facility, the ICRC has trained 70 nurses
from 10 different hospitals in Basra governorate.

All the rehabilitation work has been carried out by local contracting
companies under the direct supervision of ICRC engineers and in
coordination with the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

Further information: Vincent Lusser, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++41 22 730 2458

Central African Republic / Chad
War-surgery seminars in Bangui and N'Djamena

The ICRC held a war-surgery seminar in Bangui from 16 to 19 October in
cooperation with the Central African Republic's Ministry of Public Health
and Population and Ministry of Defence. A similar seminar is currently
taking place in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad.

The seminar held in Bangui, which was led by a senior ICRC surgeon, was
attended by 65 civilians, military officers and university professors,
including 38 Central African surgeons. It enabled the participants to
exchange experiences and engage in fruitful discussions on various topics
such as the rights and duties of medical teams in wartime under
international humanitarian law, the epidemiology of war wounds and the
basic principles involved in treating war casualties.

The Central African Republic was shaken by three mutinies in 1996 and 1997
and an attempted coup in May 2001. Those who took part in the seminar had
been involved in treating wounded soldiers and civilians during these
events.

The war-surgery seminar being held in N'Djamena was organized jointly by
the ICRC and the Chadian Ministry of Defence. It began on 24 October and
will continue until today. Chad, which has been affected by various
conflicts in the past 25 years, has been faced with an uprising in the
north of the country since 1998. Hundreds of people have been killed and
thousands wounded in the fighting, most of them combatants. The seminar,
which was officially opened by the Ministry of Defence in the presence of
the army's General Staff, has brought together 30 civilian and military
surgeons from the country's main hospitals.

This seminar is part of an ICRC plan of action aimed at improving the
treatment given to the war-wounded. It follows upon a first-aid course
held jointly by the ICRC and the Ministry of Defence from 24 to 28
September in Faya Largeau oasis, in northern Chad. The course had brought
together 24 military nurses working in eight health posts on the front
line.

Further information: Zoran Jovanovic, ICRC Yaoundé, tel. ++237 225 859

Armenia
Milestone in fight against TB

Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious cause of death
among adults - ahead of other respiratory infections, diarrhoea, AIDS and
malaria. Every year it kills two million people. For various reasons,
prisons have become the major breeding ground for tuberculosis in the
countries of the former Soviet Union.

As the TB rate in prisons is estimated to be 100 times higher than among
the general population, the disease is recognized as the main health
problem in Armenia's prison system. As large numbers of prisoners and
other persons regularly enter and leave the prisons, it also poses a
threat to the rest of the population. Bringing tuberculosis under control
in prisons is therefore essential for the nation as a whole.

To support the Armenian authorities in their efforts to fight TB at the
national level, the ICRC signed an agreement in August 2000 with the
Ministries of Internal Affairs, Justice and Health. As a result, the
organization has now finished constructing a separate TB ward in the
Central Penitentiary Hospital compound. The unit, which has 220 beds, will
treat any prisoner sick with TB. The ICRC has also built a national TB
reference laboratory in the compound of the State Tuberculosis Dispensary
in Abovian. The laboratory will serve not only the prison system but the
country's entire population.


In the above-mentioned agreement, the Armenian authorities undertake to
furnish and staff the facilities and to provide selected medical materials
in order to make both quickly functional. The ICRC will provide the rest
of the medical and laboratory equipment needed. The organization will also
help the authorities work out strategies for TB control in prisons, in
keeping with international standards. This involves a range of measures,
including training the hospital staff in TB diagnosis and treatment and
the laboratory staff in detection methods.

On 18 October, the ICRC transferred responsibility for the new TB ward to
the Ministry of Justice and that for the laboratory to the Ministry of
Health. The signing ceremony was attended by Mr Hovanes Hunanyan, Deputy
Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr Hayk Darbinyan, Deputy Minister of
Health, Mr Nikolay Arustamyan, head of the Ministry of Justice's
Department of Structural Reforms, and Mr Frank Kuenzi, head of the ICRC's
delegation in Armenia.

The first phase of the anti-TB programme is thus complete. It is now vital
that all the parties involved in the programme begin implementing the next
phase without delay.

Further information: Vincent Lusser, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++ 41 22 730 24 58


During the weekend of 27 - 28 October 2001, for all information please
call the press officer on duty Kim Gordon-Bates, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32
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