ICRC News 35 / 04.09.96IRAQ IRAQI ATTACK: ICRC TAKES IMMEDIATE ACTION
On 31 August the Iraqi army and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) launched an offensive on Arbil. The Kurdish city, which was in the hands of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), fell the same day. Hundreds of civilians hurriedly left their homes to seek temporary refuge in safer locations.
Hospital sources put the number of wounded at 150. On 1 September the ICRC started to give the city's main hospital assistance in the form of medical and surgical supplies.
Also on that day ICRC delegates began visits to more than 70 detainees in the hands of the KDP, including 22 captured during the latest fighting. Approaches are still being made to the various Kurdish factions in order to gain access to all captives.
To ensure prompt assistance should the situation deteriorate, the ICRC has stockpiled medical supplies in both Arbil and Sulaymaniyah. In addition, a convoy from Amman carrying several tonnes of emergency medical supplies is due to arrive soon in Baghdad.
Despite the departure of a number of humanitarian organizations from Sulaymaniyah and Arbil, the ICRC is maintaining its team of 12 delegates in the three main cities of Kurdistan, in addition to its delegation in Baghdad.
Further information: Cristina Fedele, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 28 36
RUSSIAN FEDERATION/NORTHERN CAUCASUS DRINKING WATER SCARCE IN GROZNY
The last twenty months have witnessed fierce fighting between Russian federal troops and Chechen separatists, particularly in Grozny. Several times the city has been devastated. In August its key installations were hit again, leaving the population - currently estimated at 80,000 - without drinking water, electricity or medical care, all the hospitals having been destroyed or badly damaged during the fighting.
Providing drinking water to people in Grozny remains a priority for the ICRC. At the end of August, as soon as the situation allowed ICRC engineers access to the only serviceable pumping station in the city, distributions to the city's inhabitants resumed. Restored to an operational state, the pumping station set up by the ICRC in February 1995 now supplies 400,000 litres of chlorinated water daily. Of this amount, between 200,000 and 250,000 litres are transported by ICRC trucks, which feed storage tanks at numerous distribution points. This provides every inhabitant with an average of three litres of the precious liquid each day.
By next week, anticipating the gradual return of Grozny's inhabitants, the ICRC plans to increase its water distributions to 500,000 litres per day following the expected arrival of three more trucks - one provided by the Danish Red Cross - with a capacity of 20,000 litres each.
In addition, the ICRC's water and sanitation programmes in the region are continuing, for example at Gudermes, where 200,000 litres are distributed each day, and at Khasavyurt (Daghestan), where engineers are at work to get the city's main pumping station operational again.
Further information: Amanda Williamson, ICRC Nalchik, tel. ++78 66 225 45 74 Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 23 07
TAJIKISTAN FIGHTING PERSISTS AS WINTER APPROACHES
As the tug-of-war over Tavildara continues and fighting in the surrounding area prompts yet more families to flee the devastation that has engulfed their homes, the ICRC is preparing for further distributions of humanitarian aid to displaced people both north and south of the conflict zone. Food is being handed out regularly for the time being, but night temperatures are starting to fall with the approach of winter: other assistance must urgently be provided before the already difficult logistical conditions are exacerbated by bad weather.
South of Tavildara, in the Darwaz region of Gorno-Badakhshan, the ICRC is awaiting delivery of clothes, shoes, blankets and mattresses for immediate distribution to some 6,000 displaced people. Stoves made in Kyrgyzstan will also be handed out, as will fuel for cooking and heating. North of Tavildara, the authorities have given ICRC delegates permission to evaluate conditions for displaced people in the uppermost reaches of the Garm valley, as far as Jirghirtal. Relief activities will now be extended to this area, in accordance with the results of initial surveys. In the south-west, ICRC surveys are being carried out in Pianj, where almost 1,000 displaced people are reported to have gathered. West of where the fighting is taking place, in the Shagnau area and further afield, in Dushanbe, food parcels are still being distributed at regular intervals to the displaced. A total of approximately 15,000 people were assisted in Tajikistan last month.
Further information: Victoria Catliff, ICRC Moscow, tel. ++70 95 926 54 26 Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 23 07
AFGHANISTAN FIRST TRAINING COURSE FOR THE DISABLED
On 31 August the ICRC launched a training programme for the disabled, complementing its traditional humanitarian assistance. This programme is the result of cooperation between its prosthetic centre and its agricultural rehabilitation team in Kabul.
The basic idea is to give disabled young people without any family support an opportunity to learn marketable skills. Twenty candidates who fit this profile were selected by the ICRC centre in Kabul for an initial course in agricultural techniques, such as the grafting and pruning of fruit trees.
This month-long course is split into two parts: one week of theory and three weeks of practical training at the ICRC's tree nursery in Bagram, situated about 60 km north of Kabul and comprising a million fruit trees.
The trainees are not paid but will each receive 6 kg of wheat flour at the end of their course. Although the ICRC will not provide them with employment, they should have no trouble finding a job since specialists in the grafting and pruning of fruit trees are in high demand. The ICRC also hopes that some of those who have completed the course will pass on their know-how to others throughout Afghanistan.
The initial cost of the training, which is given by four local employees from the ICRC agricultural rehabilitation team, is 8 million afghanis (about 600 US dollars).
Further information: Jean-Luc Paladini, ICRC Kabul, tel. ++873 382 280 131 Joerg Stoecklin, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 29 06
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