ICRC News 40 / 10.10.96AFGHANISTAN EMERGENCY AID
Since Kabul was captured by Taliban forces on 26 September, the ICRC has had to take action on several fronts to keep up with the swift pace of events in the Afghan conflict. Its first major concern was to ensure that the residents of the Afghan capital would receive vital supplies. Assurances regarding ICRC action were immediately obtained from the Taliban leadership.
On 1, 2, 4 and 7 October, several convoys (79 trucks in all) brought 1,415 tonnes of goods, mostly food but also blankets, coal, medical supplies and orthopaedic equipment, from Peshawar to Kabul. Distributions were rapidly organized in the Afghan capital, where the ICRC is feeding nearly 250,000 destitute people - more than one quarter of the total population. On 9 and 10 October, the distributions will be extended to 1,700 disabled people who are receiving regular food rations from the ICRC. On 10 October as well, a convoy is scheduled to bring foodstuffs to Bamyan, about 100 kilometres north-west of Kabul. This operation should furnish adequate food supplies through to the end of November for 5,000 widows, displaced persons and disabled people in the city.
Medical supplies sent to Taligan
Meanwhile, the Taliban have pursued their offensive north of the capital towards the Panjshir valley, where the forces of Ahmed Shah Masood are entrenched. Commander Masood asked the ICRC to meet the medical needs of local people affected by the fighting. On 8 October, therefore, 500 kilos of medical supplies and blankets were flown from Kabul to Taligan, a town in Takhar province located between the front line and the Tajik border. The same day, two ICRC vehicles set off from Taligan on the road to Faizabad, in Badakhshan province, in an attempt to reach the northern part of the Panjshir valley.
The ICRC remains concerned about the situation of the people displaced by the recent fighting. A team of delegates has been sent to the area around Taligan, Faizabad and Farkhar to assess the scale of the population movements and the needs of those - mostly ethnic Tajiks - who have fled Kabul and the combat zones. Initial reports put the number of displaced people in and around Taligan at about 5,000. The ICRC is continuing its survey.
Further information: Jean-Luc Paladini, ICRC Kabul Tel. ++ 873 382 280 131
Joerg Stoecklin, ICRC Geneva Tel. ++ 41 22 730 29 06
RUSSIAN FEDERATION/NORTHERN CAUCASUS THREE MORE COMMUNITY KITCHENS IN GROZNY
With winter approaching and many people in Grozny having difficulty obtaining enough to eat, the ICRC has opened three more community kitchens, bringing the city's total to eight.
Following the destruction inflicted during the recent fighting in August, which deprived the city of basic infrastructure and services, the situation remains precarious for a large portion of the population. For the third winter in a row, the most vulnerable (the elderly, the disabled and welfare cases) are exposed to the cold, living in utter destitution in lodgings that have often been damaged and are difficult to heat.
Since early 1996 the ICRC has been striving to help these people by serving them hot meals in community kitchens, a programme being carried out in cooperation with the local branch of the Red Cross. By the end of this week, it should be possible to provide hot meals to more than 4,000 people a day.
Two community kitchens are also operating in Gudermes. They serve 800 meals a day, 150 of which are for patients at the city's psychiatric hospital. The ICRC is planning to open a third in the near future.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++ 41 22 730 23 07
ARMENIA / AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT AND FOOD SECURITY IN THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS
What are farmers doing, ploughing and sowing away amid the ruins? How can tender green shoots of wheat be growing in the war-ravaged earth of the southern Caucasus?
While political negotiations to resolve the crisis involving Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh follow their course, the inhabitants of the areas affected by the conflict continue to live in extremely difficult conditions. A severe drought over the summer has further exacerbated the food problems they are facing.
Working together with the American Red Cross, the ICRC has been stepping up its activities to help restore agriculture in the area and is currently running several programmes to this end.
In late September 1996, 520 tonnes of wheat seed for autumn sowing were distributed to Armenian, Azerbaijani and Karabakhi farmers, enabling them to recultivate a total of 2,200 hectares of land throughout the area affected by the conflict. A small project was also set up on an experimental basis to provide credit to farmers in particularly hard-hit villages, thus giving them access to the means of production they need.
In 1997 the ICRC plans to distribute young potato plants and various types of vegetable seed for family gardens, thereby improving food security. Finally, small projects aimed at producing greater quantities of seed potatoes will be set up to give people access to healthy, quality produce.
Most of these programmes provide for the distribution of literature on farming methods and information cards on anti-personnel mines and the precautions to be taken in high-risk areas.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++41 22 730 23 07
MALTA CONFERENCE A NEW STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT
A conference on the law of armed conflict in a new strategic environment will be held in Malta on 16 and 17 October. The meeting, organized by the Maltese government in close conjunction with the ICRC, will be attended by the military chiefs of staff, or their representatives, from the various countries of the Mediterranean. The ICRC will be represented by Mr Yves Sandoz, its director for principles and law, who will address the participants on the difficulties faced in applying international humanitarian law to conflicts marked by widespread anarchy, such as that in Liberia, and to conflicts in which the aim is to assert group identity, such as that in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He will also suggest ways in which solutions might be found.
Further information: Tony Burgener, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++ 41 22 730 23 17 Mr Sandoz's speech may be obtained from the ICRC Press Division but not published before 16 October.
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org (English only): - Fact Sheet on ICRC activities in Somalia dated 30.9.96 - Fact Sheet on ICRC activities in Former Yugoslavia: past and future, dated 7.10.96 - Fact Sheet on ICRC activities in Afghanistan, dated 8.10.96
During the week-end of 12-13 October 1996, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Rubin Ortega, on (mobile) 41 79 357 5003