ICRC News 08 / 01-Mar-01


** SHORT MENU....

Indonesia: Aid for victims of inter-ethnic violence in Borneo
With ICRC support, the Indonesian Red Cross Society is assisting displaced
people who have been fleeing violence between indigenous Dayaks and
Madurese settlers in Central Kalimantan province, on the island of Borneo.

Liberia: Helping displaced people return home
The eight-year Liberian war that started in 1989 caused great death and
suffering, including the displacement of thousands of people from their
homes.

Second anniversary of the Ottawa treaty
- toward a worldwide effect
Two years after the entry into force of the Ottawa treaty banning
anti-personnel mines, efforts to rid the world of these horrific weapons
has begun to show results. Today, the use, production, stockpiling and
transfer of anti-personnel mines have been outlawed by nearly two thirds of
the world's governments.
Case studies
Report from the minefields - Bosnia, Albania and Afghanistan two years
after Ottawa
Bosnia-Herzegovina - Mine problem five years on
Albania - the lingering tragedy of mines
Mine victims in Afghanistan - the suffering continues


** STORIES IN FULL...

Indonesia
Aid for victims of inter-ethnic violence in Borneo

With ICRC support, the Indonesian Red Cross Society is assisting displaced
people who have been fleeing violence between indigenous Dayaks and
Madurese settlers in Central Kalimantan province, on the island of Borneo.
The local authorities estimate that some 22,000 persons have so far
returned to their native Madura.

Kits containing the basic items such as sleeping mats, cooking utensils and
buckets are being distributed to evacuated families during transit in the
port of Surabaya or later in the temporary shelter set up by the
authorities in Bangkalan, on Madura, where the evacuees remain until
transport is available to take them to relatives living in other places on
the island.

In the meantime, relief is reaching Sampit, a river port in Central
Kalimantan, where tens of thousand persons are camped around the town hall
waiting to be evacuated. Three truckloads of food and medical and sanitary
supplies was delivered by the Indonesian Red Cross on 27 February to its
local branch in Sampit. Subsequently, volunteers from the Society set up a
dispensary to treat the ill. 

ICRC delegates in Sampit report that access to clean water is the most
urgent requirement if an outbreak of water-born diseases is to be avoided
while evacuations from the town are under way. Water tanks, purification
tablets and similar items will be supplied as soon as possible from ICRC
stocks in Surabaya.

According to various reports from media and the authorities, the escalating
violence in Central Kalimantan has so far claimed 400 lives.

Further information: David Lynch or Arista Idris, ICRC Jakarta, 
tel. ++ 6221 722 72 64, ++6221 739 67 56 and mobile: ++6281 180 15 37
Macarena Aguilar, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 2101


Liberia
Helping displaced people return home

The eight-year Liberian war that started in 1989 caused great death and
suffering, including the displacement of thousands of people from their
homes. As the focus of the fighting shifted, wave after wave of civilians
fled the countryside, towns and villages to seek refuge in neighbouring
countries or in the capital. Today, Monrovia is still temporary home to
almost 3,000 displaced persons from the south. For nearly a decade,
unusable or dangerous roads have prevented these people from returning to
their homes. But this is changing.

On 27 February, an ICRC-chartered ship began taking on board the first 288
persons prepared to return to the area of Greenville, in Sinoe county. The
ship is scheduled to make several trips between the port of Monrovia and
those of Greenville and Harper, repatriating the 2,600 or so returnees so
far registered in Monrovia and the surrounding area. Each passenger will
receive eating utensils, bottled water, tinned meat and sardines: enough to
last the voyage, which will take between 24 and 30 hours depending on sea
conditions. When they land, the returnees will be picked up by trucks and
buses that will ferry them to their home villages, where they will be
helped to pick up the threads of their former lives.

Further information: Roland Sidler, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 20 45


Second anniversary of the Ottawa treaty
- toward a worldwide effect

Two years after the entry into force of the Ottawa treaty banning
anti-personnel mines, efforts to rid the world of these horrific weapons
has begun to show results. Today, the use, production, stockpiling and
transfer of anti-personnel mines have been outlawed by nearly two thirds of
the world's governments. Tens of millions of anti-personnel mines in
storage have been destroyed. Importantly, governments have increased
funding for mine clearance, mine awareness and victim-assistance
programmes. In some severely mine-infested countries, this has brought
relief to the victims themselves as well as the communities where they
live. Life and limb are being saved, victims are benefiting from better
treatment and rehabilitation, and millions of mines that were ready for
deployment will now never find their way into the earth.

However, in order to guarantee that the scourge of mines is forever
eradicated, it is urgent that steps be taken to ensure universal adherence
to and compliance with the treaty's provisions. States that have not yet
become bound by it should do so at the earliest possible date. Likewise,
the States party to the treaty should recall the need to fully meet their
obligations and undertake mine clearance, destroy their stockpiles within
the deadlines set, and aid landmine survivors. They must also adopt
legislation to guarantee that those who violate the treaty's provisions are
punished.

Africa is the world's worst-affected continent and African governments
played an important role in the negotiations that led to the treaty's
adoption in 1997. A recent pan-African meeting in Bamako, organized by the
government of Mali with support from Canada and France, stressed the
importance of ongoing promotion and implementation of the rules laid down
by the treaty. More than 150 participants from 45 African countries
attended the meeting and were joined by representatives of international,
regional and non-governmental organizations as well as the ICRC. To date,
31 African States are bound by the treaty. Work to achieve the treaty's
aims will also continue in other regions throughout the coming year. In
all, 110 States have become fully bound by the Ottawa treaty while another
29 have signed but not yet ratified it. 

The ICRC is confident that  the international community's goal of
eliminating anti-personnel mines will eventually be achieved.   

Further information: Isabelle Daoust, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 2772

For more information about the worlwide impact of landmines, please consult
http://www.icrc.org/eng/mines

Case studies
Report from the minefields - Bosnia, Albania and Afghanistan two years
after Ottawa

While the Ottawa treaty has undoubtedly done much to diminish the
devastating effects of landmines, thousands of people go on paying the
price for the countless devices still hidden in the soil of mine-infested
countries around the world. Though it cooperates wherever possible with
mine-clearance organizations in countries with a significant mine problem,
the ICRC has focused its efforts on providing surgical care for the victims
and playing a preventive role by alerting people to the danger by means of
wide-ranging awareness programmes. This approach has played a significant
part in helping to reduce the number of mine incidents.


Bosnia-Herzegovina - Mine problem five years on

In the five years of peace since the Dayton Agreement was signed, more than
1,250 Bosnian - mainly civilians - have been killed or injured by
landmines. This deadly legacy of the fighting (mines litter towns and
cities as well as agricultural land) has proved a major obstacle to many
who are trying to rebuild their lives.

In 1996, a year after the war ended, the ICRC launched a mine-awareness
programme that today encompasses data gathering and work with school
children, including presentations, competitions and a successful theatre
play. Local Red Cross instructors, trained by the ICRC, are also conducting
a range of other community-based activities across the country.

The programme, which is currently being taken over by the local Red Cross,
has helped to reduce the number of accidents from an average of 50 per
month, in 1996, to eight in 2000.

This week, local Red Cross branches throughout the country have been
putting up colourful street banners to mark the second anniversary of the
entry into force, on 1 March 1999, of the Ottawa treaty banning the
production and use of landmines. The giant banners read Misli Mine! (think
mines!) in red, yellow and black lettering on a white background.
Bosnia-Herzegovina was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the
treaty.

Following the banners, a massive, countrywide billboard campaign will get
underway in mid-April as a further reminder to people about the dangers
they face from anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance as they go
about their daily lives.

"March and April are among the high-risk months for rural communities",
explained Vanja Bojinovic, the ICRC's national mine-awareness coordinator
in Sarajevo. "With the long winter over, farmers are out ploughing their
fields and working in the woods, where mines may be lurking."


Albania - the lingering tragedy of mines

Farie and Rush live not far away from each other. However, visits between
the 61-year-old and the 56-year-old cousins have become rare. Two years
ago, they set out to graze their flocks, but strayed from well-trodden
pathways. They had heard about mines, but never imagined that anything
could happen to them. Rush stepped on a mine with her left foot. When her
cousin went to help her, she suffered the same fate. Amputation was
unavoidable. Now, despite their artificial legs, both women find it hard to
get about.

In this remote and mountainous area of Albania near the Kosovo border,
people tend not to complain about their problems. But Farie and Rush
obviously find it difficult to come to terms with their disability, viewing
themselves as incapable of contributing to their families' welfare. A visit
from Albanian Red Cross staff and ICRC delegates has brought at least a
degree of relief. Losing a leg has made it difficult for the women to
fulfil as they see fit their roles as wives of hardworking farmers. The
food provided by the Red Cross, however, is helping them recover some of
their dignity. Putting more varied and interesting fare on the family table
enables Farie and Rush to view themselves as worthwhile rather than as
charity cases.


Mine victims in Afghanistan - the suffering continues

In March last year, seven-year-old Zar Gullah found herself drawn to a
shiny piece of metal lying in a field close to her home in Nangarhar
province, east of Kabul. As in thousands of other cases around the world,
the natural curiosity of a child had catastrophic consequences for her.

Zar picked up her new plaything and ran off to show her family. Her mother,
who suddenly realized what Zar had in her hands, was reaching out for her
when the mine exploded, blowing off part of the house's roof. Zar's two
brothers, 13-year-old Mohammed Alam and 11-year-old Sheer Alam, who had
been sleeping along with a third brother, were killed. Zar survived the
accident, but had to have her leg amputated. Less than two months later she
was learning to walk again with a prosthesis made for her by the ICRC
limb-fitting centre in Kabul. To this day, despite her constant questions
as to the whereabouts of her brothers, her mother has been unable to bring
herself to tell the truth.

Afghanistan is today one of the world's most mine-ridden countries. Between
April 1998 and December 2000, the ICRC registered 2,686 victims of
landmines and unexploded ordnance. "That comes to three victims every day",
remarks Laurence Desvignes, the ICRC's mine-awareness coordinator. "These
figures are very disturbing, especially if one considers that we are
certainly not aware of all cases. But our information-gathering system,
like the programme itself, is improving." Mine victims are registered both
in the hospitals, some of which receive major ICRC support, and the
organization's five limb-fitting centres in Afghanistan.


During the weekend of 3 - 4 March 2001, for all information please call the
press officer on duty Antonella Notari, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 80