ICRC News 28 / 18.07.96

ICRC News 28 / 18.07.96


SOMALIA
CAMEL SICKNESS

An emergency programme run by the ICRC and the Somali Red Crescent Society has 
helped save thousands of camels belonging to nomads in the Nogal region near 
Garoe. At the end of May the camels were found to be suffering from a virulent 
form of pneumonia; owners were losing money as they had to stop selling milk, 
while the price of medicine tripled on the local market. Up to 70 per cent of 
herds were affected.

The ICRC has made a special effort to plan its assistance with a view to the 
long term and to avoid supplying medicine directly, which would disrupt the 
local economy. Following an agreement with local leaders and traders, the ICRC 
undertook to supply drugs at a subsidized price. The programme was administered 
through the Somali Red Crescent, and Somali vets were employed to advise owners 
on treatment. An interim assessment in June showed that the disease had been 
brought under control and that the animals were responding well to the 
treatment.


Further information: Rolin Wavre, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++4122 730 2876
Nic Sommer, ICRC Nairobi, tel.: ++2542 723 963



MALI
WATER FLOWS AGAIN

On 10 July the ICRC completed the dredging of a canal linking Lake Faguibine to 
the Niger River in the Timbuktu area of northern Mali. The canal had become 
silted up as a result of successive droughts in the 1970s, and again in 1984 
and 1985; this had drastically reduced the area of the lake, its alluvial banks 
and the land fertilized by the Niger floods. The 40,000 lakeside inhabitants, 
who lost most of their herds, will now have more land to grow grain and 
vegetables.

The month-long dredging operation, carried out by 200 workers, including 70 
former combatants demobilized in 1995, will double the area of irrigated arable 
land, bringing it to 10,000 hectares. This achievement is all the more vital 
since thousands of people who used to live around the lake and were displaced 
by the conflict in northern Mali between 1990 and 1995 will be returning in a 
state of total destitution. Providing them with the conditions they need to 
regain self-sufficiency can only help maintain stability in the region.

Further information: Suzanne Hofstetter, ICRC Bamako, tel.: ++223 22 07 09
Ren-Luc Thvoz, ICRC Abidjan, tel.: ++225 222 459 

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New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org (English only):
- Factsheet on ICRC activities in the Russian Federation/northern Caucasus, 
dated 17 July 96


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During the week-end of 20-21 July 1996, for all information
please call the press officer on duty, Joerg Stoecklin, on
(mobile) 079 202 36 80