ICRC News 03 / 22.01.97

ICRC News 03 / 22.01.97


AFGHANISTAN
A LITTLE POORER EVERY DAY

The population of Kabul is growing poorer with every passing day. A 
further 20,000 people displaced by the recent fighting have added their 
numbers in the past week to the thousands of destitute people already 
living in the Afghan capital. The new arrivals are made up of families 
who have fled the Mir Bachakot area, the scene of the latest Taliban 
offensive. The ICRC distributed food aid (flour, beans and vegetable oil) 
where needed and provided them with blankets, soap and charcoal. The 
number of poverty-stricken people living in Kabul and receiving regular 
ICRC assistance is constantly rising: last autumn it stood at 180,000 and 
has now increased to 216,000 - about a fifth of the city's current 
population. With the breakdown of the local economy, the severity of the 
winter weather and the effects of a never-ending conflict, it is now up 
to international organizations to meet the needs of an increasingly 
exhausted populace.

In December alone, prices rose in Kabul by 25%. Some provinces in the 
north saw inflation rates of 140%, prompting demonstrations, in Kunduz 
for example. The devaluation of the afghani, the local currency, is one 
reason for the increase in the cost of living. A week before Ramadan it 
lost 16% of its value, an event which had a serious impact on the price 
of staple foods, with tea, flour, sugar and rice suddenly becoming 
unaffordable. The purchasing power of civil servants (whose monthly 
salaries range from four to five US dollars) is now equivalent to the 
price of a single 7-kg bag of rice per month.

With poverty spreading and most of Kabul's districts still without 
electricity, the ICRC is making a special effort to provide the people 
assisted by it with the means to keep warm. It is continuing to 
distribute blankets, candles, charcoal and wood stoves to the disabled, 
war widows and orphans, who are among the most vulnerable inhabitants of 
the Afghan capital.

Further information: Jean-Luc Paladini, ICRC Kabul, Tel. ++873 682 283 
880
Joerg Stoecklin, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++41 22 730 2906


RWANDA
REFUGEES RETURN TO KAMEMBE

In the south-western Rwandan town of Kamembe humanitarian organizations 
are now facing a flood of returning refugees from Zaire, most of whom are 
in very poor health. Since 8 January nearly 2,000 people a day have been 
crossing the border near Bukavu. Delegates have aided dozens of the 
weakest individuals, and some 300 have been hospitalized. A water 
distribution centre with a capacity of 18,000 litres per day has been set 
up at the Nyagatare transit centre.

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The ICRC was saddened and indignant to learn of the murder in Ruhengeri 
on 18 January of three Spanish representatives of Midecins du monde. The 
ICRC is no stranger to such events, two of which in 1996 took the lives 
of nine of its delegates in Burundi and Chechnya. Its expatriates 
stationed in Gisenyi and Ruhengeri are now in Kigali, where intensive 
discussions are being held at the ICRC delegation and numerous outside 
contacts have been made in order to work out an approach that will allow 
the ICRC to continue working for all the victims of conflict in the 
region.

********

Further information: Laura O'Mahony, ICRC Kigali, Tel. ++ 250 72 781
Josui Anselmo, ICRC Nairobi, Tel. ++ 2542 716 339
Rolin Wavre, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++41 22 730 2876


BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
VISIT BY ICRC PRESIDENT 

ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga has spent the last week visiting relief 
projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina and meeting political and spiritual 
leaders and local Red Cross representatives.

In both entities - the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina - the ICRC is working closely with the national Red Cross 
Societies of Germany, Austria and the United States to implement 
programmes in aid of the poorest of the poor in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
Seeing some of the 200,000 people in the country who daily brave cold and 
embarrassment to queue for a bowl of hot soup or a package of dry food, 
President Sommaruga remarked that, despite the international community's 
present focus on longer-term reconstruction and rehabilitation, there are 
more immediate needs that must continue to be addressed.

On several occasions in various parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina the ICRC 
President met representatives of the families who have filed tracing 
requests with the ICRC and are still waiting for an answer regarding the 
fate of missing relatives. Mr Sommaruga acknowledged that those of the 
missing who were able to come forward of their own accord have probably 
already done so and that it is to be feared that the remaining 18,000 are 
no longer alive.

President Sommaruga held meetings with two of the three members of the 
country's collegial presidency, Mr Krezimir Zubak and Mr Momcilo 
Krajisnik. He also met Mr Haris Silajdzic, the new Co-Chairman of the 
central government's Council of Ministers, and Mr Jadranko Prlic, 
Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Further information: Nina Winquist-Galbe, ICRC Sarajevo, 
   Tel.: ++ 387 71 652 407
Michael Kleiner, ICRC Geneva, Tel.: ++ 41 22 730 22 81

During the week-end of 25 - 26 December 1997, for all information
please call the press officer on duty, Michael Kleiner, on (mobile)
41 79 202 42 00