ICRC News 09 / 08-Mar-01


Afghanistan: Emergency food distribution in the Dar-e-Suf valley

Between 28 February and 4 March the ICRC distributed food rations to
14,000 people trapped by bad weather in the conflict-affected Dar-e-Suf
valley, south of Mazar-i-Sharif. With the roads to the valley heavily
mined and covered in snow, the ICRC organized several convoys of donkeys
to reach the region's 250 villages.

The emergency distribution took place following a survey conducted by the
ICRC in mid-February. Delegates in charge of the survey described the
situation in humanitarian terms as "dramatic". Reto Stocker, ICRC head of
sub-delegation in Mazar-i-Sharif, said: "In most of the villages we
visited, there was little or no food left. To make matters worse, there
was no sign of winter wheat being grown".

Carrying up to 100 kg of supplies each, some 800 donkeys travelled
through the valley during the four-day operation. The rations distributed
to the families, intended to help them survive until the summer, included
rice, beans and oil.

In addition to the ongoing conflict, the Dar-e-Suf valley has been
heavily hit by a recent drought which destroyed the harvest in most of
the rain-fed areas.

The ICRC's emergency humanitarian operation, agreed to by both parties to
the conflict, was the first to make it across the front lines into this
area from the north since August 1998.


Albania: Three women eager for Red Cross messages

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop in the main room of an old
farmhouse in northern Albania as Andye Kortoci, a village elder, began to
read out Red Cross messages. The pages trembled in his rough hands, but
no one noticed. The three women surrounding him hung on his every word.

Each woman had received a message: one from her brother, one from her
husband and one from her son, all of whom had borne weapons during the
conflict in Kosovo and had been detained in Serbia for nearly two years.

The three detainees come from the same village, Myhejan, where their
absence weighs heavily on their families. Their work – cultivating
fields, tending cattle and other farm chores – has been taken over,
as far as possible, by the rest of the community. Even the children must
pitch in.

The nearest town, Bajram Curri, is some 50 km away on the main road. It
is another half an hour's walk – in good weather – from the
road to the village.

Selim Musa, an Albanian Red Cross worker, makes the trek to Myhejan about
once every three months, to bring Red Cross messages that arrive from
Serbia, via Tirana. So few visitors come to Myhejan that the villagers
recognize his silhouette from afar. Selim Musa is the only link left
between the detainees and their families in Albania.


Indonesia: Red Cross assists internally displaced Madurese

The violence that broke out two weeks ago in Central Kalimantan province,
Borneo, between indigenous Dayaks and Madurese settlers has begun to
abate. The camp for displaced Madurese set up in the town of Sampit is
now empty, the last evacuation having taken place aboard two vessels
provided by the Indonesian authorities. During the evacuation process,
the Indonesian Red Cross and the ICRC provided bottled water for all
those making the 24-hour journey from Sampit to East Java.

With the last group of displaced people having left Borneo, the emergency
phase in Central Kalimantan is now winding down. But some 800 km across
the Java sea, only half of the evacuees arriving in Surabaya are being
met by relatives. Those with no one to pick them up are driven to transit
centres, where food and family parcels supplied by the Red Cross await
them. Within a matter of hours, transport is provided to take them to
their final destination on the island of Madura.

Once they arrive, however, many of the displaced Madurese have to settle
with host families and this may soon become a burden for the local
population. The situation is particularly difficult for villagers who,
two years ago, already experienced the arrival of many displaced families
after an ethnic conflict erupted in Sambas, West Kalimantan, and have few
resources to cope with the new influx. A Red Cross team is currently
assessing the situation on the island to see what can be done for the
recent arrivals.

At the camp in Sampit, the local authorities, with ICRC support, had
constructed 20 pit latrines, eight wells and four showers to ensure a
minimum degree of sanitation in the crowded area. Medical assistance was
provided by the Indonesian Red Cross, which set up two outpatient clinics
in the camp, also with ICRC support. The clinics, open 12 hours a day,
were staffed by four doctors and four nurses, and provided consultations
and medicines free of charge. The National Society also distributed
20,000 bars of soap and organized the collection of garbage by volunteer
camp dwellers, in order to prevent the outbreak of disease.


Israel and the occupied and autonomous territories: Patients taken home
for Muslim holiday

To enable 13 psychiatric patients aged 25 to 60 to spend the Muslim
holiday Eid al Adha, which began on 4 March, with their families, the
ICRC provided transport from a hospital in Bethlehem to the towns of
Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah and Jenin. Some of the patients had finished
their treatments and were going home for good. ICRC assistance was
required as certain villages and towns in the West Bank are closed off by
Israeli security forces, making travel very difficult.

According to the delegates who made the journey, the patients were
overjoyed to see their families and proudly showed them money they had
saved for the holiday festivities, during which people traditionally
exchange sweets. The ICRC had conducted a similar operation in January
for Ramadan.


Republic of Guinea: ICRC assists internally displaced

Since clashes involving armed groups from Liberia and Sierra Leone broke
out in the Republic of Guinea in September 2000, more than 80,000
internally displaced Guineans have received emergency assistance from the
ICRC. The purpose of the aid, which consists of food (cereals, peas,
cooking oil and salt) and other supplies (sleeping mats, blankets, soap
and jerrycans), is to help these people regain a measure of
self-sufficiency.

Fleeing the areas bordering Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the fighting
is taking place, the displaced, who have lost all their belongings, are
seeking refuge with relatives in various parts of the country. Since they
are completely dependent on the resources of those who take them in, they
place a heavy burden on the host families and the assistance is all the
more appreciated.

In view of the constant movement of displaced people, a survey is being
carried out with the help of Guinea Red Cross volunteers and the local
authorities to determine which groups are the most vulnerable and provide
them with additional assistance. Drugs and other medical supplies have
been distributed to health centres in the border areas and to the
country's main hospitals treating the war-wounded.

The ICRC, which has recently increased it operational capacity in the
country, now has 20 expatriates there covering Conakry, Kissidougou,
N'zerekore and Kankan.


Sierra Leone: Planting the seeds of a better future

The Ogoo Women Farmers Association outside Freetown has every right to be
proud of what it has achieved: in just a few months its 300 members, many
of them displaced women or war widows, have transformed underused
farmland into verdant fields bearing rich crops of local and imported
vegetables, such as okra, krin-krin, pumpkins and tomatoes. This was made
possible by the women's own hard work and by the timely support of the
ICRC and the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, which together provided the
seed, tools and training. The Ministry of Agriculture also played a key
role in the project.

As the association's chairman, Mariama Keita, stressed, women can do a
lot to solve their own problems: "We women got together to help ourselves
and to avoid the vices of prostitution and idleness. For displaced women
in particular, our association offers the means of earning some money and
supporting their families." Mariama explained that some of the income
generated by selling crops is shared among the members while the rest is
saved up for community projects and to buy more seed.

The example of the Ogoo association shows that assistance programmes for
women affected by war must build on their strengths and abilities, and
allow them to take charge. Last year, the ICRC and the National Society
supported nearly 12,000 Sierra Leonean women in this way; in 2001 they
plan to assist a further 60,000 women in the country who are hoping to
plant the seeds of a better future.


Women and War - project

The programme to assist the Ogoo association is one of many put in place
by delegations around the world in response to guidelines that have come
out of the ICRC's Women and War project. Launched two years ago, the
project focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of how conflict affects
women and thus helping the ICRC to meet their needs more effectively. One
of the project's main aims is to conduct a study on woman and war.

While not altering the ICRC's basic principle of providing assistance and
protection for all victims without discrimination, the study, due to be
published this year, does however encourage delegations to initiate
programmes designed to address the specific needs of women caught up in
conflict – whether they have been sexually abused, forced from
their homes or separated from their families.

So far, 18 delegations are planning to carry out women-oriented
programmes in 2001. These range from specially designed dissemination
courses to the rehabilitation of maternity wards. According to Charlotte
Lindsey, project manager, a highly successful effort has been made in
Sierra Leone: "The delegation has set up a number of creative programmes.
Some of them are operating through women's associations, which is an
extremely effective approach. Considering the devastating impact the
conflict in Sierra Leone has had on women, such programmes are clearly
needed and will prove extremely beneficial."

For more information on the Women and War project, including a statement
by the ICRC President, Jakob Kellenberger, to mark International Women's
Day, please consult the Website http://www.icrc.org/eng/women


Yugoslavia: Repair work completed on Muscular Dystrophy Institute in
Novi Pazar

On 1 March the Norwegian Red Cross and the ICRC handed over to the local
health authorities the newly repaired Muscular Dystrophy Institute in
Novi Pazar, the only one of its kind in Yugoslavia. The damage to the
Institute caused by NATO bombings in April 1999 coupled with years of
neglect had led to deplorable working conditions. For the patients,
confined to wheelchairs for as long as they live, the repair work has
made a world of difference.

Immediately after the bombings, the ICRC had made emergency repairs,
first attending to the windows and elevators, and then to the main roof
and therapy pools. Later on, in the spring of last year, the Norwegian
Red Cross set up a project designed to carry out the further repairs
needed for the Institute to function properly again. As part of the
project, work was carried out on the roofs, therapy pools, plumbing and
children's ward.

A significant number of the Institute's 180 patients are permanently
hospitalized and they are naturally the ones to benefit the most from the
project. A 16-year-old-boy smiled broadly as the director explained that
the work had not only improved the treatment facilities and made rooms
available for visits and leisure activities but had literally prevented
the walls from collapsing.

Summing it up, Birgen Stamsoe, the Norwegian Red Cross project manager,
said: "It has been one of those rewarding experiences in which
cooperation between the Red Cross and local management has brought about
significant improvements for the beneficiaries."