ICRC News 41 / 16.10.96AFGHANISTAN WOUNDED INUNDATE HOSPITALS - ICRC SENDS NEW CONVOYS
As the fighting continues in Afghanistan, a fresh influx of wounded is filling hospitals in Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad. Every day the ICRC has been helping to bring out the victims, in particular those wounded on the front line along the highway linking the Afghan capital with the Salang plain to the north.
The six main Kabul hospitals with surgical facilities admitted some 300 further casualties between 5 and 11 October. The Taliban forces airlifted over 300 victims of the fighting to Kandahar on the 12th and 13th. The next day, Kandahar's Mirwais hospital admitted 194 patients. To deal with this influx the ICRC, which runs the facility, reinforced its staff there on 15 October by dispatching an extra surgical team from Quetta, Pakistan.
In the meantime, the ICRC has carried on its work to protect prisoners. Last week it visited 100 held by the Taliban in Jalalabad. As of 13 October, 70 others had been registered and visited in Kabul. In addition, ICRC delegates in Taligan contacted officials of the former government with a view to obtaining access to Taliban prisoners.
The ICRC is continuing to distribute food in Kabul, in particular to widows and disabled people. Two more convoys laden with flour and vegetable oil are scheduled to leave Peshawar, Pakistan, for the Afghan capital this week.
Finally, a convoy that left Taligan on 9 October carrying two ICRC teams as well as medical supplies and blankets reached the northernmost part of the Panjshir valley on 14 October after crossing a number of passes in the Hindu Kush mountains.
Further information: Jean-Luc Paladini, ICRC Kabul, Tel. ++873 382 280 131 Joerg Stoecklin, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++41 22 730 2906
RUSSIAN FEDERATION / NORTHERN CAUCASUS AID TO SCHOOLCHILDREN
Beginning next week, schools in the Chechen cities of Grozny, Gudermes and Argun will be the object of an ICRC assistance programme, the first phase of which is intended to benefit 17,000 schoolchildren.
While the situation has been calm in the Chechen republic since the end of August 1996, the oncoming winter months are expected to be harsh. Many residents of Grozny are living in
ruins that will require lengthy reconstruction work. But life is returning to normal, numerous obstacles notwithstanding. Children have returned to school, though the damage sustained during last summer's fighting means that not all classrooms can be heated.
The ICRC has therefore decided to launch a programme to assist children enrolled in the most severely damaged schools. They will be served sandwiches and tea every schoolday at noon. The programme, which will be carried out in conjunction with parent-teacher associations, will continue throughout the winter and should benefit some 45,000 children.
The ICRC has already furnished school supplies to 16 schools in Grozny. In addition, rolls of reinforced plastic sheeting have been distributed, according to need, to a number of Grozny schools to insulate classrooms from the cold. In southern Chechnya, 27 schools in the Shali area have also received plastic sheeting.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++41 22 730 2307
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org :
- Statement of Yves Sandoz, Director of International Law and Policy International Committee of the Red Cross, "View of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the Law of Armed Conflict Today", Malta Conference on the Law of Armed Conflict in a New Strategic Environment, on 16-17 October 1996
During the week-end of 19-20 October 1996, for all information please call the press officer on duty
Suzanne Berger (mobile) 41 79 203 79 80