ICRC News 37 / 24.09.97

ICRC News 37 / 24.09.97


** SHORT MENU....

SOMALIA: SEED TO AID REVIVAL AFTER FLOODS: The ICRC has just completed a 
programme aimed at providing seed for over 20,000 people whose crops were 
destroyed by recent flooding in Lower Shebele, south-west of Mogadishu.


** STORY IN FULL...

SOMALIA
SEED TO AID REVIVAL AFTER FLOODS

The ICRC has just completed a programme aimed at providing seed for over 
20,000 people whose crops were destroyed by recent flooding in Lower 
Shebele, south-west of Mogadishu. The rains have damaged one third of the 
cultivated land of the region, considered to be Somalia's main 
breadbasket, and have destroyed up to 90% of the crops in certain areas.

After conducting several survey missions by plane when the area was 
flooded and then by car and on foot, ICRC teams identified some 4,100 
families in need of immediate assistance in particularly stricken parts 
of the region. Within three weeks of the final survey the aid programme 
was planned and implemented. Over 57 tonnes of maize, cowpea and sesame 
seed were distributed. "The seed was bought locally because these 
varieties are best suited to the region's climate", said Christophe 
Langenkamp, the ICRC agronomist in charge of the programme. "People will 
be able to harvest new crops within just over three months from now."

This seed distribution programme, together with other projects, forms 
part of the ICRC's close monitoring of food needs in Somalia.

Further information: Josui Anselmo, ICRC Nairobi, tel .: ++254 2 716 339


New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org :
- Update 97/10 on ICRC activities  in Albania, dated  23.9.97


During the weekend of 27 - 28 September 1997, for all information please 
call the press officer on duty

    Kim Gordon-Bates
    41 79 357 50 03   (mobile)