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KENYA: RED CROSS RELIEF AID IN RIFT VALLEY: For the past eight months, the Pokot and Marakwet districts in Kenya's Rift Valley have been rocked by violence between the two resident ethnic groups. Inter-tribal cattle-rustling has long been a source of tension in the area, but the conflict has escalated in recent months.
SOMALIA: SEED FOR FLOOD VICTIMS: The torrential rains that have been pummelling Somalia since last October have not only left people homeless, they have also severely affected agriculture, destroying the crop that had begun to grow and was due for harvesting in December/January.
NORTHERN CAUCASUS / RUSSIAN FEDERATION: BREAD FOR GROZNY: Although hostilities in Chechnya ceased more than 18 months ago, a battle of a different kind continues for many people who are struggling to find enough food to eat.
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KENYA RED CROSS RELIEF AID IN RIFT VALLEY
For the past eight months, the Pokot and Marakwet districts in Kenya's Rift Valley have been rocked by violence between the two resident ethnic groups. Inter-tribal cattle-rustling has long been a source of tension in the area, but the conflict has escalated in recent months. Thousands of people from both sides have had to flee their homes and are now living in caves and other temporary shelters with little or nothing to eat, having been forced to abandon their fields for fear of attacks. The displaced population has also suffered greatly from diseases such as Rift Valley fever, malaria and pneumonia. With support from the ICRC, the Kenya Red Cross Society sent a relief mission to the area in January. Over 15,000 people were identified as in urgent need of assistance.
Relief distributions, scheduled to begin on 18 January, were delayed for 10 days owing to the difficulty of reaching the affected area: the heavy rains that have been pounding the country for the past three months had washed away bridges and made roads virtually impassable. By the time the Red Cross convoy had reached the western town of Eldoret, it had become clear that the trucks, with their 10-tonne loads, were much too heavy to negotiate the region's rough, steep roads under such conditions. As a result, lighter trucks had to be sent and, as they had only half the capacity, the entire operation was slowed considerably.
So far, 68 tonnes of maize, 13 tonnes of beans and seven tonnes of oil have been distributed to some 1,300 displaced persons in Pokot and 1,900 in Marakwet. The operation is continuing, with deliveries planned to seven further towns.
Clashes have also erupted recently in the Rift Valley districts of Laikipia and Njoro, leaving thousands more displaced and in urgent need of aid. The Kenyan Red Cross has surveyed the areas involved and is discussing with the ICRC plans to provide assistance in the coming weeks.
Further information: Josue Anselmo, ICRC Nairobi, tel: ++2542 716 339
SOMALIA SEED FOR FLOOD VICTIMS
The torrential rains that have been pummelling Somalia since last October have not only left people homeless, they have also severely affected agriculture, destroying the crop that had begun to grow and was due for harvesting in December/January. Many bakars, the traditional Somali underground storage containers for cereals, have been flooded, soaking the cereal and making it unsuitable for either sowing or eating. As a result, it is estimated that over 80,000 tonnes were lost.
After sending emergency relief to the flood victims, the ICRC launched the second phase of its operation in November with a programme aimed at ensuring medium-term food security for southern Somalia by providing farmers with replacement seed to be planted in time for harvest in March/April. The seed types furnished by the ICRC (mainly maize, sorghum, cowpeas and sesame) are all indigenous to Somalia.
The distribution is intended to cover all of southern Somalia (i.e. the regions of Gedo, Lower and Middle Juba, Bakool, Bay, Hiran, Lower and Middle Shabelle), providing over 600 tonnes of seed and more than 2,000 tonnes of food to upwards of 48,000 families (the ICRC basing its distributions on the family unit, calculated as equal to five individuals). Farmers need the seed for planting, but as they are also facing severe food shortages, steps have had to be taken to avoid immediate consumption of the seeds. Each family is therefore being given 45 kg of food along with 12 kg of seed and a vegetable-seed kit (a pack of various vegetable seeds with a farming instruction manual).
So far, seed distributions have been completed in all areas except Lower and Middle Juba. The programme will be expanded to an additional 12,000 families in Lower and Middle Juba, still too wet for planting to begin. To cope with the enormous logistical problems involved in reaching the victims, unconventional means of transport such as convoys of camels, donkey carts and boats have been used.
Further information: Josue Anselmo, ICRC Nairobi, tel: ++2542 716 339
NORTHERN CAUCASUS / RUSSIAN FEDERATION BREAD FOR GROZNY
Although hostilities in Chechnya ceased more than 18 months ago, a battle of a different kind continues for many people who are struggling to find enough food to eat. Last September the ICRC launched a new relief programme to take the place of its soup kitchens. Operated with the support of the Chechen committee of the Russian Red Cross, the project currently provides locally baked bread to almost 8,000 people a month, meeting the urgent need of disabled and elderly people, many of whom belong to the Russian minority, who have no other form of support. These marginalized groups generally receive no social security and are battling to cope with the harsh living conditions in the partly destroyed city. Some 20 bakeries are taking part in the programme, which was initially planned for the winter only but will probably be extended until the end of the year.
For security reasons, the ICRC has since December 1996 been working out of Nalchik, in Kabardino-Balkaria, to organize its relief work in Chechnya and the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Daghestan. The programmes are carried out by locally hired ICRC staff and by the local committees of the Russian Red Cross, whose social assistance projects are financed by the ICRC. It also supports similar programmes run by the local committees of the Russian Red Cross in four further republics in the northern Caucasus and two other territories in the south of the Russian Federation.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel: ++41 22 730 2307
During the weekend of 7 - 8 February 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Michael Kleiner, on (mobile) 41 79 202 42 00