ICRC News / 23.10.96NORTHERN IRAQ ICRC AID FOR WOUNDED AND DETAINEES
The intense fighting that has been raging for several days between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), particularly in the Dokan lake region, has again caused heavy losses. Between 250 and 300 war wounded have been admitted to ICRC-assisted hospitals in the Erbil and Sulaymaniyah areas since mid-October. Around 200 of these casualties were initially screened and given first aid at the Rania hospital near Dhokan. ICRC nurses have distributed emergency medical supplies such as dressing sets and medicines to surgical facilities on both sides, sufficient to treat several hundred patients.
Since 12 October, ICRC delegates have visited some 300 persons detained on either side in connection with the conflict. In accordance with its mandate, the ICRC is continuing its attempts to obtain access to all detainees and to be allowed to talk to them without witnesses in order to assess their conditions of detention and treatment.
In an effort to promote respect for basic humanitarian standards and values, radio spots explaining the rules of conduct in hostilities have been given to local radio stations in KDP- and PUK-held areas.
Thirteen delegates and around 70 locally hired staff are working out of three ICRC offices in northern Iraq, located in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk. Stocks of blankets, jerrycans, cooking utensils and plastic sheeting sufficient for around 6,000 people are available to assist internally displaced civilians should the need arise.
Further information: Peter Iseli, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2086
SIERRA LEONE AGRICULTURAL REHABILITATION: A PRECONDITION FOR PEACE
Although peace talks between the Sierra Leone government and the United Revolutionary Front have not yet yielded any definite results, the February 1966 cease-fire remains officially in effect. With the relative calm of the last few months, some displaced people and refugees have gradually been returning to their villages in the east of the country, which had been almost entirely depopulated by the fighting. More than 15,000 of the 180,000 people receiving ICRC assistance are former Sierra Leonean refugees who recently returned from Guinea or Liberia.
To meet the needs of the civilian population during the rainy season, which is the most critical time of year from the nutritional viewpoint, the ICRC has distributed some 4,000 tonnes of food over the last six months. It also provided farmers with 1,200 tonnes of rice and groundnut seed and 45,000 hoes so that they could begin to plant crops again. The harvest has already begun, and it should enable the population to regain a measure of self-sufficiency in terms of food. According to Peter Klinck, an ICRC agricultural engineer, agricultural rehabilitation cannot be completed in a single year, so a second seed distribution will take place in 1997. In addition, 24,000 families will receive tomato, onion, eggplant, pepper, cucumber and okra seed for their vegetable gardens next month.
Alongside its activities to promote nutritional rehabilitation, the ICRC is providing support for health centres and helping to repair water supply systems in the east of the country. It also visits persons detained in connection with the conflict and runs a network for the exchange of family messages between refugees abroad and their relatives in Sierra Leone.
Further information: Laurent Fellay, ICRC Freetown, tel. ++232 22 241 438
119 MILLION LANDMINES . . .
On 18 October, a public-interest TV spot produced by the ICRC for its campaign against anti-personnel landmines won first prize at an international competition in Amsterdam, held on the occasion of the 16th International Fundraising Workshop in which about 400 humanitarian organizations took part. The spot is designed to alert public opinion to the indescribable suffering endured by the victims of landmines, by giving figures for the mines likely to kill or maim innocent civilians over the next few years. It has been translated into five languages and broadcast by the major satellite networks and TV stations in 24 countries. At present, some 119 million anti-personnel mines lie scattered in more than 70 countries, not counting the new ones laid every day. The information campaign launched by the ICRC at the end of 1995 is being continued in the hope of stigmatizing landmines and putting an end to this scourge.
Further information: Patrick Mahassen, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2392
PRESS BRIEFING
RESPECT FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW A VAST CHALLENGE AND ONE WAY OF MEETING IT: THE ICRC ADVISORY SERVICE
will be held on Thursday 24 October 1996 at 10.00 a.m.
at the International Conference Centre, Geneva (ICCG) (The room number will be posted in the main lobby)
During the week-end of 26-27 October 1996, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Corinne Adam, on (mobile) 41 79 202 42 00