ICRC News 23 / 18.6.97
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO ICRC resumes work in Brazzaville
Now that the intense fighting that recently rocked Brazzaville has died down, the ICRC has been able to resume its activities in the Congolese capital. Over the past three days, the organization's Twin Otter aircraft has made five flights from Kinshasa to Brazzaville, bringing in four tonnes of medical supplies. These urgently needed items were distributed on Wednesday to the city's main hospitals, whose stocks had run out. Three delegates, including a nurse, are currently in Brazzaville where they are continuing the distributions to medical facilities and maintaining contact with all the parties involved in the situation there. The ICRC has supplied the Congolese Red Cross with material to enable its volunteers to collect and bury the dead still lying in the city's streets.
It remains extremely difficult to move about in Brazzaville, every trip requiring numerous contacts with all those carrying weapons. It is absolutely essential that everyone - from the fighter on the street to the most senior political or military leader - understand that the Red Cross, and the ICRC in particular, is working impartially to meet the immediate needs of all the victims of the conflict.
Further information: Nic Sommer, ICRC Kinshasa, Tel. ++ 243 88 49 165
COLOMBIA A NEUTRAL INTERMEDIARY
The release on 15 June of some 70 government soldiers held by guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was the outcome of a long process of negotiation between a number of parties. The ICRC transferred the freed soldiers from their places of detention to a site where they were examined by ICRC and Colombian Red Cross Society medical staff. They were then formally handed over to the government side.
As part of its ongoing work aimed at ensuring that non-combatant civilians are spared the effects of fighting, the ICRC has stepped up its presence in the conflict areas.
The ICRC will continue visiting places of detention throughout the country and providing medical assistance where required. Owing to the prevailing violence in Colombia, some 650,000 civilians have been driven from their homes to seek refuge safer areas. The ICRC is supplying them with food and medical assistance through the Colombian Red Cross.
Further information: Ruben Ortega, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++ 41 22 730 24 54
ANTI-PERSONNEL LANDMINES CENTRAL ASIAN CONFERENCE
The government of Turkmenistan hosted Central Asia's first-ever conference on means of achieving a global ban on anti-personnel mines, from 10 to 12 June in Ashgabat. The conference was opened by Turkmenistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Boris Shikhmyradov, who declared his country's strong support for the Ottawa process aimed at concluding a treaty by the end of 1997 to outlaw anti-personnel mines.
The conference brought together representatives of the five Central Asian States (Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) as well of Afghanistan, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey to consider the human and social costs of landmines in the region, international efforts to bring about a ban and means of stepping up mine clearance and assistance for the victims. An expert from the ICRC's delegation in Tashkent attended the conference and addressed the assembled representatives on international humanitarian law as well as treatment and rehabilitation for mine victims.
BRUSSELS CONFERENCE TO MOVE TOWARDS MINE-BAN TREATY
More than one hundred States, the ICRC, the United Nations and various non-governmental organizations are expected to attend the Brussels International Conference for a Global Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines, which will take place from 24 to 27 June 1997. The Conference, hosted by the Belgian government, is an official follow-up to the Ottawa Conference held last October. Its purpose is to review progress made towards a worldwide prohibition of anti-personnel landmines and to agree on the action required to bring the negotiation of a treaty banning these weapons to a successful conclusion before the end of this year.
Governments wishing to attend the Conference as full participants will be required to support the Brussels Declaration, which commits them to negotiating a ban treaty by the end of 1997. All other guests will be present only as observers. The Conference itself will be in two parts: the first two days will deal with the key elements to be included in the treaty, and the other two will focus on various aspects of the anti-personnel mine problem in a series of four round tables. In the second round table, ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga will address the issue of an integrated approach to victim assistance.
Further information: Stuart Maslen, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++4122 730 2533 Johanne Dorais-Slakmon, ICRC Geneva, Tel. ++4122 730 2319
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org : - Update No. 97/01 on ICRC activities in the Republic of Congo, dated 17.06.97 - Update 97/01 on ICRC activities in Colombia, dated 17.5.97 - Update 97/02 on ICRC activities in Sierra Leone, dated 10.6.97
During the week-end of 21 - 22 June 1997, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Suzanne Berger, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 03