ICRC News 47 / 30-Nov-01


** SHORT MENU....

Afghanistan
ICRC RESTORES WATER TO KABUL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
The Ataturk Children's hospital in Kabul will soon have running water
again. Early next week, a crew from the International Committee of the Red
Cross will have completed repairs to the pump that supplies water not only
to the hospital, but also to the nearby university and a residential area
of about 300 families.

Burundi
World Aids Day: ICRC supports programmes in three prisons
In connection with World Aids Day (1 December), the ICRC will be
supporting activities at three civilian jails in Burundi - Mpimba, Ngozi
and Gitega.  From 26 November to 6December, plays, songs, dances and poems
created by the prisoners will be performed to raise HIV/AIDS awareness
among the prison population.

Angola
ICRC reunites orphans with uncle
The ICRC recently helped six Angolan orphans, the youngest of whom is
barely two months old, to be reunited with their uncle in Huambo province.

Democratic Republic of the Congo
War surgery seminar
>From 20 to 30 November, the ICRC and the Congolese Ministries of Defence
and Health ran a joint war surgery seminar in Kinshasa, opened by the
Minister of Defence.

Biological weapons
ICRC calls for increased vigilance
The ICRC called last week for increased vigilance and much greater
openness in research and development of biological agents that may have
military as well as civilian applications.


** STORIES IN FULL...

Afghanistan
ICRC RESTORES WATER TO KABUL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

The Ataturk Children's hospital in Kabul will soon have running water
again. Early next week, a crew from the International Committee of the Red
Cross will have completed repairs to the pump that supplies water not only
to the hospital, but also to the nearby university and a residential area
of about 300 families.

Currently, water is being trucked to the hospital every day. Every drop
has to be carried to the wards, the kitchen and other departments in
buckets. "The old pump had broken down," explains Georgio Nembrini, the
ICRC's coordinator of water and habitation projects for Afghanistan, "but
it was a question of finding the right equipment and making the necessary
adjustments."

ICRC crews have restored drinking water to nearly 400,000 people in Kabul
since the start of November, by repairing broken water mains or
reconnecting pumps to power supplies. In cooperation with the Ministry of
Energy and Water in Kabul, the ICRC is carrying out assessments of the
city's electrical system. Of the 740 transformers in the city, only 270
are fully functional. To compound the problem, drought has reduced water
levels behind the dams at hydroelectric power stations. Together with
faults in the power transmission network, this means that the system is
only delivering 50% of the 122 megawatts it should be providing.
Electricity for households is rationed between 3.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m.,
giving priority to large public buildings and facilities such as
hospitals.

The ICRC and Ministry engineers are assessing water pumping stations so
that repairs can start. "In many large buildings, the piping is defective.
As a result, there's not enough pressure to get the water to the upper
floors." explains Nembrini. "This is another issue we will have to
address."

The ICRC is working with other hospitals to help them prepare for winter,
by repairing broken windows and providing fuel for kitchens and heating
stoves. Similar winterization assistance is being offered to 5,000
families in one of the poorer neighbourhoods of Kabul, with local
community leaders designating the families in consultation with the ICRC.

ICRC aids Kunduz hospital

Following the two-week siege of Kunduz by the United Front, three ICRC
delegates entered the town on 27 November to assess the need for
humanitarian aid.

First-aid supplies and kits for treating the war-wounded were delivered to
the Kunduz hospital, which according to ICRC medical experts had been
stretched to its limits, and five patients in need of treatment
unavailable there were taken to another hospital in nearby Taloqan.
Discussions are currently under way on upgrading the Kunduz hospital and
providing extra medical personnel.

Meanwhile, the delegates are assessing the population's needs in terms of
food and basic shelter material. Once they have registered those eligible
for assistance, the food and other relief aid already on standby in
Mazar-i-Sharif will be delivered.

The Taloqan office where the three delegates are based was recently opened
in order to be better able to assess the situation in the area.

ICRC fulfils sombre duty in Mazar-i-Sharif

Following the latest events in the Qala-i-Jangi fortress, where hundreds
of Taliban fighters were being held by the United Front, teams from the
ICRC and the Afghan Red Crescent have been working nonstop to collect
mortal remains.

The bodies are being removed from the detention centre by the authorities
before they are turned over to the Red Cross / Red Crescent. After being
numbered and photographed for later identification, the remains are then
buried. This sombre duty is one that the ICRC can be called upon to
perform in conflict areas. The purpose is as much to provide for dignified
storage or burial of the bodies as to help preserve minimum standards of
public hygiene.

Further information: Bernard Barrett, ICRC Kabul, tel. ++873 761 24 22 60
Macarena Aguilar, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 21 01


Burundi
World Aids Day: ICRC supports programmes
in three prisons

In connection with World Aids Day (1 December), the ICRC will be
supporting activities at three civilian jails in Burundi - Mpimba, Ngozi
and Gitega. From 26 November to 6 December, plays, songs, dances and poems
created by the prisoners will be performed to raise HIV/AIDS awareness
among the prison population.

These activities are part of the ICRC AIDS programme launched at the
beginning of last year. Principal partners are the national AIDS
programme, the Society for Women and Aids in Africa (SWAA) and the
national tuberculosis programme. The AIDS programme is aimed at preventing
and detecting the infection and managing AIDS-related opportunistic
infections. The main target group are prisoners and the underprivileged in
Bujumbura, Gitega and Ngozi.

"This is a pilot project, one of the first of its kind that the ICRC has
launched in the 80 countries where we operate." stated Dr Martin
Schneider, who runs ICRC medical work in Burundi. "Together with the SWAA,
we started by training prisoners and prison officers to train others, and
we've provided training for health personnel in prisons and health
centres."

Dr Schneider adds: "Once they understand the issues, the prisoners can
protect themselves against infection using the condoms made available to
them. For some weeks now, they've also been able to go for anonymous and
voluntary testing, and to obtain counselling before and after. At the same
time, any sexually transmissible diseases can be treated and HIV-positive
prisoners can receive treatment for opportunistic infections."

Under its programme for civilians affected by AIDS, the ICRC regularly
supplies medicines to hospitals and health centres for the treatment of
STDs and opportunistic infections. The ICRC is also assisting with the
supply of equipment to protect medical personnel from infection.

Further information: Christa Rottensteiner, ICRC Bujumbura,
Tel.: ++ 257 21 29 08

Angola
ICRC reunites orphans with uncle

The ICRC recently helped six Angolan orphans, the youngest of whom is
barely two months old, to be reunited with their uncle in Huambo province.

The children's parents had fled Bailundo, a town in Huambo on the central
Planalto, because of the conflicts that devastated the region in the
1990s. They first went to the capital, Luanda, but soon realized that they
could not remain there because of the high cost of living. They left for
Ambriz, in Bengo province, where they started a small coal business.

All went well until one day last year when unknown assailants abducted the
father. The mother then had to take care of the family and business all on
her own. Exhausted, she died on 1 October, leaving her six children alone
in the world. They did however have an uncle, Sameti, in Huambo. He was
eager to take them into his own family but could not afford to pay for
their air travel. Security conditions are currently so poor that there
could be no question of fetching them by car. Then he had another idea: he
made a family reunification request to the ICRC, which was immediately
accepted.

When they arrived at Huambo airport aboard an ICRC aircraft, the children
were obviously elated to be with their uncle once again. To help out
Sameti, whose family suddenly had six more members, the ICRC gave
clothing, blankets and other essential items to the orphans.

Further information: Caspar Landolt, ICRC Luanda, tel. ++24 42 364 454


Democratic Republic of the Congo
War surgery seminar

>From 20 to 30 November, the ICRC and the Congolese Ministries of Defence
and Health ran a joint war surgery seminar in Kinshasa, opened by the
Minister of Defence.

The aim of the seminar was to enable Congolese surgeons to exchange
information with their ICRC counterparts regarding the treatment of war
casualties, with a view to improving the management of this type of
casualty. Following two days of theory, the participants started to put
what they had learned into practice, performing operations in the military
hospital at Kokolo Camp. In total, 27 surgeons of the Congolese armed
forces (FAC) took part in this seminar, which followed two run by the FAC
and the ICRC in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa last year.

The ICRC has set up a number of programmes with the FAC medical corps,
supporting medical facilities that treat war casualties and providing
training for combat stretcher-bearers and military surgeons.

The ICRC will continue to work with the Congolese authorities under its
mandate to help the victims of war and internal violence and to ensure
respect for international humanitarian law.

Further information: Antoine Tawamba, ICRC Kinshasa, Tel.: ++ 243 341 91 92


Biological weapons
ICRC calls for increased vigilance

The ICRC called last week for increased vigilance and much greater
openness in research and development of biological agents that may have
military as well as civilian applications. The statement was made to the
Fifth Review Conference of States Parties to the 1972 Biological Weapons
Convention, which is being held in Geneva from 19 November to 7December.

"The ICRC considers any use of biological agents to cause illness, death
or terror to be utterly repugnant and abhorrent acts. Indeed we consider
that any efforts to use knowledge in the biological field to destroy
rather than to improve human lives to be a particularly perverse form of
inhumanity which deserves universal condemnation," said Francois Bugnion,
the ICRC's Director for International Law and Communication. Mr Bugnion
emphasized that despite the existence of well-established norms against
the hostile use of biological agents there are ample reasons for
vigilance. These include the rapid development of biotechnology, the
recent use of anthrax to spread terror and the risk that existing norms
could be undermined. The ICRC official urged States to strengthen both the
biological and chemical disarmament regimes.

The ICRC expressed its concern that nearly a decade of efforts to develop
an effective and legally binding compliance-monitoring regime for the
Biological Weapons Convention have not yet borne fruit and urged States
Parties to resume efforts towards this end. In addition, the organization
called for international cooperation in support of major improvements in
the capacity of national health services to respond to the use or threat
of use of biological weapons and to suspicious outbreaks of disease. To
date, 144 States have ratified the Biological Weapons Convention.

The full statement can be found on http://www.icrc.org
Further information: Lena Eskeland, ICRC Mines-Arms Unit, tel. ++41 22 730
2488


During the weekend of 1 - 2 December 2001, for all information please call
the press officer on duty Kim Gordon-Bates, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 16