ICRC News 06 / 15-Feb-01


** SHORT MENU....

Georgia: ICRC resumes its humanitarian activities In the Pankisi valley
Between 1 and 9 February the ICRC distributed 7,500 blankets to Chechen
refugees and local host families in the Pankisi valley to help them stave
off the winter cold.

India: Restoring family links for earthquake victims
Following the earthquake that struck the Indian state of Gujarat two weeks
ago, the Indian Red Cross Society, supported by the ICRC, set up a
programme enabling quake victims to send news to family members elsewhere
in India and abroad.

Ethiopia / Eritrea: ICRC repatriates Ethiopians from Eritrea
On 9 February some 570 people of Ethiopian origin were repatriated from
Eritrea under ICRC auspices.


** STORIES IN FULL...

Georgia
ICRC resumes its humanitarian activities
In the Pankisi valley

Between 1 and 9 February the ICRC distributed 7,500 blankets to Chechen
refugees and local host families in the Pankisi valley to help them stave
off the winter cold. This was the first distribution of aid in the valley
since August 2000, when activities there were suspended after the abduction
of three ICRC employees.

Pankisi is a remote mountain valley on the Georgian border with the Russian
Federation. Since the resumption of hostilities in Chechnya, thousands of
refugees have crossed into Georgia and most of them now live with host
families. In January the ICRC Tbilisi delegation had sent staff to the area
to assess needs and discuss security conditions with the local authorities.

The refugees received one blanket each and the host families two. Blankets
were also distributed to vulnerable residents and to internally displaced
people from Abkhazia and South Ossetia now living in the village of
Akhmeta. To ensure the safest possible conditions, the distributions were
organized with the support of the Georgian Ministry of State Security, the
Ministry of Interior Affairs and the local administrators and elders of
Duisi and Jokolo villages in the Pankisi valley. 

The ICRC will continue to monitor the humanitarian situation in the valley
and to respond to outstanding needs.

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


India
Restoring family links for earthquake victims

Following the earthquake that struck the Indian state of Gujarat two weeks
ago, the Indian Red Cross Society, supported by the ICRC, set up a
programme enabling quake victims to send news to family members elsewhere
in India and abroad. Through the worldwide Red Cross / Red Crescent
network, people outside India may also request information on their
relatives by submitting tracing requests to their local National Societies.


"With many villages razed to the ground, large numbers of people are still
on the move, seeking to join friends or relatives, while others are living
in temporary shelters," said Violene Dogny, ICRC tracing coordinator in
India. "It may therefore take longer to find those about whom we receive
enquiries from abroad." 

The Red Cross has based a team in Bhuj, the worst-hit town, and completed
an initial assessment of needs in more than 30 villages. Around 25 personal
messages have already been collected and sent to family members abroad, in
most cases through the American, British and Canadian National Societies,
but also through others in East Africa and the Gulf, where many Indian
communities are to be found. 

"We are very impressed by the solidarity which both the public and private
sectors in India have shown," said Jean-Luc Metzker, ICRC deputy head of
operations for Central and South Asia. "Efforts were immediately made to
restore some of the communication systems and as a result we have had fewer
tracing requests than expected."

While messages are being collected and forwarded, the Red Cross will
continue to assess needs in many of the other affected villages located in
more remote areas. It will also keep on visiting hospitals so as to ensure
that patients are in touch with their families. Finally, in coordination
with other organizations working with minors, it will focus greater efforts
on unaccompanied children.

"It is usually the most vulnerable who require such assistance, even when
communication systems begin working again," said Ms Dogny. "Last Friday,
for example, we found the relatives of a new-born baby girl who, in the
chaotic aftermath of the quake, had been transferred for special treatment
to the Norwegian / Finnish Red Cross field hospital set up in the area as
part of the International Federation's disaster response operation."

Further information: Macarena Aguilar, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 21 01


Ethiopia / Eritrea
ICRC repatriates Ethiopians from Eritrea

On 9 February some 570 people of Ethiopian origin were repatriated from
Eritrea under ICRC auspices. The operation, in which the ICRC acted in its
capacity as a neutral and independent intermediary, took place between the
border towns of Adi Quala and Rama at a crossing point on the Mereb river.

Most of the returnees were families from Asmara. After expressing their
wish to go back to Ethiopia, they were transferred to the border under the
supervision of ICRC delegates based in Eritrea and with the help of the
Eritrean Red Cross. A team of ICRC delegates based in Ethiopia met them on
the other side and, with the aid of the Ethiopian Red Cross, provided them
with assistance before handing them over to the authorities. 

A similar operation for 873 persons took place on 3 February 2001. Since
early December last year, four other operations have been carried out in
which more than 5,110 Ethiopian civilians, mainly former internees, were
repatriated under ICRC auspices.
 
The ICRC will continue to assist people affected by the international armed
conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea and make efforts to ensure that the
rules and principles of international humanitarian law, in particular the
1949 Geneva Conventions, are respected and applied.

Further information: Bruce Mokaya, ICRC Asmara, tel. ++ 29 11 18 11 64 
Alain Aeschlimann, ICRC Addis Ababa, tel. ++25 11 51 83 66


For information on the current humanitarian situation in Afghanistan,
please contact Mario Musa in Kabul (++ 873 761 242 260), if possible
between 7and 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. and 1p.m. GMT.


During the weekend of 17 - 18  February 2001, for all information please
call the press officer on duty Juan Martinez, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 17