ICRC News 29 / 25.07.96
AFGHANISTAN FIRST FOOD DISTRIBUTIONS IN BAMIYAN
The ICRC last week expanded its activities in Bamiyan, a town 250 kilometres north-west of Kabul, when a convoy of seven trucks managed to get through with 60 tonnes of food, seed and farming implements. The food was intended for 370 of the poorest families (comprising over 2,500 individuals) in a particularly remote area. Shortly after the convoy's arrival on Thursday, 18 July, distributions began at five points accessible to the residents of 25 villages in the Bamiyan valley.
This is the first time that an ICRC convoy has succeeded in reaching Bamiyan from Kabul; all previous attempts were halted by fighting in the area. The food-aid programme being developed by the ICRC in Bamiyan will have three main categories of beneficiaries: disabled people without work, widows caring for more than three children, and the poorest of the poor. The present distributions (wheat, rice, beans and cooking oil) were arranged in conjunction with the valley's shura, the traditional Afghan local assembly, and should last for two months.
Alongside the food-aid programme itself, the ICRC will help to repair the Bamiyan office of the Afghan Red Crescent Society and to rebuild the region's irrigation systems. Contacts fostered with the province's authorities will also enable the ICRC to visit detainees being held by the Wahdat party.
Further information: Joerg Stoecklin, ICRC, Geneva Tel. ++ 41 22 730 29 06
Jean-Luc Paladini: ICRC Kabul Tel. ++ 873 382 280 131
TAJIKISTAN WARRING PARTIES ENLIST ICRC HELP IN RELEASES
An agreement between the Government of Tajikistan and the United Tajik Opposition was signed on 21 July 1996 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. In it the parties asked the ICRC to take part in the release of prisoners captured in the fighting.
The parties will provide the ICRC with lists of prisoners and with unhindered access to places of detention so that delegates can privately interview the detainees prior to their release and transfer.
This process will be carried out in stages and should be completed by the end of August.
The ICRC delegation in Dushanbe has contacted both parties to confirm its availability as of 24 July and to remind them of its working procedures.
Further information: Bertrand Kern, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++41 22 730 2869
Bosnia-Herzegovina BOSNIAN CHILDREN EMBRACE Red Cross values
For a few children in Bosnia-Herzegovina, learning more about the values underlying Red Cross work has taken the form of an enjoyable game. The Red Cross has organized a summer school a few kilometres from the Republika Srpska town of Modrica, in north-western Bosnia. The first of three scheduled 12-day sessions started on 15 July. Others will begin on 29 July and 15 August 1996. In all, 150 pupils ranging in age from 9 to 13 years will be welcomed at the school.
"Our aim is fairly modest," says Ole Johan Hauge, a Norwegian ICRC delegate in charge of the project. "We're trying to bring basic Red Cross and humanitarian values home to these children. They are so full of energy and so responsive to the material that it's more a case of us trying to keep up with them".
The children are looked after by a team of 10 people from the ICRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who endeavour to provide a warm and friendly atmosphere for the various role-playing games, exercises and discussions.
Schoolchildren represent one of ICRC's main target audiences in its work to promote acceptance of Red Cross values. Once the ICRC is no longer present in the Republika Srpska, volunteers from the local Red Cross will continue this type of work among young people.
Further information: Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++ 41 22 730 2608
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During the week-end of 27-28 July 1996, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Rubin Ortega, on (mobile) 079 202 42 00
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