ICRC News 10 / 19.03.97

ICRC News 10 / 19.03.97


ALBANIA
READY TO HELP THE MOST VULNERABLE

Surveys carried out over the last two days in the regions of Albania 
affected by the recent unrest have confirmed that social welfare 
institutions are in urgent need of help. ICRC teams of relief and medical 
experts went to the towns of Sarande, Gjirokaster, Fier, Delvine, 
Tepelene and Vlore in the south, Elbasan in the centre, and Shkoder and 
Kukes in the north to assess the situation there. They met directors of 
hospitals, orphanages and a home for the elderly, who told them that they 
would very soon face a critical shortage of food and medicines.

In Gjirokaster, for example, the hospital was struggling to cope with an 
influx of people wounded by stray bullets, and at the home for the 
elderly, the director said that his warehouse had been looted of all 
food. Although the local community had stepped in to help, he was 
concerned that he would only be able to feed his residents for a few more 
days. The atmosphere in Gjirokaster and other towns was one of uneasy 
calm, but there was still evidence of armed groups, and looting appeared 
to be continuing.

The ICRC is working with the Albanian Red Cross to find out what logistic 
resources are available to address emergency needs. An appeal to donors 
for 15 million Swiss francs was launched on 17 March.

Further information: Amanda Williamson, ICRC Tirana, tel. ++355 42 35 035
Press Division, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2309


FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
AFTER FIVE YEARS, A RED CROSS MESSAGE 
REUNITES BROTHER AND SISTER

Last week, after five years of agonizing silence, a woman in Croatia 
discovered through a Red Cross message that her brother was alive.

The brother, a Serb living in Croatia, fled his home in 1991 as war 
approached and later settled in the Banja Luka region of 
Bosnia-Herzegovina. His sister, a middle-aged woman married to a Croat 
and living in a small village close to the border with the former Sector 
South, decided to stay behind and they lost touch completely.

Then a few days ago she received a surprise visit from one of the ICRC 
mobile teams based in Knin. She was handed a Red Cross message written by 
her brother, reassuring her that he was alive and wanted to make contact 
with his family again.


Although communications have improved greatly since peace returned to the 
former Yugoslavia and many displaced families have been able to get in 
touch with their relations by normal means, the Red Cross message network 
remains vital for people living in remote regions, especially elderly 
persons confined to their homes. In areas where minorities are still in a 
vulnerable position, the presence of the ICRC also provides a degree of 
protection.

Last year alone, the ICRC handled over 370,000 Red Cross messages in 
connection with the former Yugoslavia. In close cooperation with National 
Societies and the local Red Cross, over 18 million messages have been 
processed since 1991, making this the biggest such operation since the 
Second World War.

Further information: Nina Paulsen, ICRC Zagreb, tel. ++11 385 1 6112 444
Nina Winquist-Galbe, ICRC Sarajevo, tel. ++387 71 656 894


PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
APPEAL FOR A TOTAL BAN ON ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES

On 7 March the ICRC and the Council of Europe's Committee on Migration, 
Refugees and Demography held a joint seminar in Budapest on 
anti-personnel landmines, an issue on which the Parliamentary Assembly 
and the ICRC have been cooperating closely. The seminar addressed an 
11-point appeal to member States of the Council of Europe, urging them to 
take an active part in the effort to achieve a comprehensive ban on 
anti-personnel mines and to sign an international treaty to that effect 
at the Ottawa Conference scheduled for December 1997. The Committee also 
called for increased contributions to rehabilitation programmes for mine 
victims, mine-clearance operations and mine-awareness campaigns for 
populations at risk.

The States represented at the seminar included Austria, Belgium, 
Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Norway, 
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian 
Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and 
the United Kingdom. Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have special status 
within the Council, also sent representatives.

The discussions were sometimes charged with emotion. One participant told 
the tragic story of a close relative who was recently killed by a mine 
blast as he was working in his vineyard.
At present, 19 of the 40 member States of the Council of Europe support a 
total and immediate ban on anti-personnel mines. Ten have renounced the 
use of mines, and two have suspended their use.

The seminar's conclusions will be the subject of a report and a draft 
resolution, which will be submitted to a forthcoming session of the 
Parliamentary Assembly.

Further information: Peter Herby, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2729
Johanne Dorais-Slakmon, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2319


NIGERIA
TRAINING THE TRAINERS

A three-day workshop on the teaching of the law of armed conflict for 
some 60 instructors, senior staff of military academies and high-ranking 
officers from all branches of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of 
Nigeria was held at the Command and Staff College in Jaji/Kaduna in the 
first week of March.

The workshop opened in the presence of the Commandant of the Command and 
Staff College, Maj. Gen. J.M Inienger, and the ICRC regional delegate 
based in Lagos. This is the third time in as many years that such an 
event has been organized jointly by the ICRC and the Nigerian armed 
forces, complementing other programmes at the National War College and 
the Infantry Centre and Schools. The workshop once again highlighted the 
excellent cooperation between the armed forces of the Federal Republic of 
Nigeria and the ICRC in the area of instruction in the law of war. 

Further information: Walter Stocker, ICRC Lagos, tel. ++23 41 269 18 81


GENEVA
OIC SECRETARY GENERAL VISITS ICRC

The newly-elected Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic 
Conference (OIC), Dr Azzedine Laraki, was received on 18 March by ICRC 
President Cornelio Sommaruga. During their meeting they discussed various 
humanitarian issues affecting member States of the OIC.

Mr Sommaruga expressed his appreciation of the OIC's unreserved support 
in the effort to achieve a ban on anti-personnel  landmines. In many 
countries, including some OIC member States, landmines continue to have a 
devastating effect on the civilian population and on national economies. 
The talks also focused on ways and means of strengthening mutual 
cooperation and on possibilities for translating this cooperation into 
practical action.



New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org :
- Update 97/2 on ICRC activities  in Albania, dated  14.3.97


Durant le week-end du 22 - 23 mars 1997, veuillez prendre contact avec 
Michael Kleiner, attachie de presse, pour toute information, tiliphone 
mobile : 41 79  202 42 00