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TAJIKISTAN: renewed outbreak of violence: The fighting that has been raging around Kofarnikhon, 20 km east of the capital Dushanbe, has already claimed close to 100 victims since violence flared up again on 24 March.
PERU: VISITS TO DETAINEES AND AID FOR VICTIMS OF EL NIQO: To help combat a cholera epidemic in La Merced prison, the ICRC last week provided the detaining authorities with cleaning products, chlorine and rehydration salts.
ARGENTINA: MILITARY PEACE-KEEPING EXERCISE: From 16 to 18 March the ICRC regional delegate took part in a military peace-keeping exercise entitled Blue Condor, organized jointly by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Relations and the British and Argentine armed forces.
HUNGARY: ONE MORE STEP AWAY FROM LANDMINES: A three-day regional conference on anti-personnel landmines hosted by the Hungarian government in Budapest ended on 28 March with a declaration by ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga that mines were "weapons of the past, not of the future".
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TAJIKISTAN renewed outbreak of violence
The fighting that has been raging around Kofarnikhon, 20 km east of the capital Dushanbe, has already claimed close to 100 victims since violence flared up again on 24 March. More than 30 wounded have been registered in hospitals in Dushanbe which have received ICRC emergency medical supplies. As security conditions are preventing ICRC delegates from reaching Kofarnikhon, the local branch of the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan has delivered medical aid to the local hospital, which is reportedly treating several dozen war wounded.
The ICRC has been working in the country since late 1992. Its activities focus on assistance to detainees and on medical aid for hospitals and other health facilities. Tajikistan is suffering severe hardship as a result of years of conflict between the government and the Islamist opposition and the economic crisis besetting the country.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2307
PERU VISITS TO DETAINEES AND AID FOR VICTIMS OF EL NIQO
To help combat a cholera epidemic in La Merced prison, the ICRC last week provided the detaining authorities with cleaning products, chlorine and rehydration salts.
Over the past few weeks, ICRC delegates have visited 1,380 detainees (about 60 of them for the first time) in places of detention under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. They also saw some 80 people (20 of them for the first time) held in facilities run by the Ministry of the Interior, and visited a dozen detainees in places under the authority of the Ministry of Defence. In addition, the delegation in Lima gave talks to the staff of the Chorrillos, Miguel Castro Castro and Yanamayo prisons to explain the ICRC's work for detainees.
The El Niqo weather phenomenon is continuing to wreak havoc in Peru. The authorities have declared a state of emergency in 15 of the country's 23 departments. The death toll has been estimated at over 200 and the number of people affected by the disaster at around 350,000. The departments of Cuzco and Cajamarca are the hardest hit, and the road between Lima and Huancayo has also been badly damaged, cutting the capital off from its main source of food supplies. The ICRC has given logistic support to the Peruvian Red Cross and the other National Societies taking part in the operation to assist disaster victims, which is being conducted with the help of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Further information: Rubin Ortega, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2454
ARGENTINA MILITARY PEACE-KEEPING EXERCISE
>From 16 to 18 March the ICRC regional delegate took part in a military peace-keeping exercise entitled Blue Condor, organized jointly by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Relations and the British and Argentine armed forces. The exercise was held at the Campo de Mayo centre, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It was attended by some 60 participants from the armed forces, the police and the ministries of foreign affairs of numerous countries in the Americas, two European countries (France and Spain), and representatives of various United Nations departments, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organization of American States. The ICRC was the only non-governmental organization invited.
Four exercises simulated various aspects of the planning and implementation stages of a peace-keeping operation. The scenario was designed in such a way as to combine all the obstacles encountered by UN peace-keeping missions in various theatres of operation during the 1990s. The participants first had to draw up a plan to restore peace among different factions in a fictitious country; this plan having failed, they were then asked to draft the general outline of a Security Council resolution authorizing the dispatch of a peace-keeping mission. Lastly, they had to establish a plan of action and deal with the initial difficulties facing the mission. Each exercise was commented on by experts, under the leadership of General van Kappen, of the UN Department of Peace-keeping Operations.
Further information: Rubin Ortega, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2454
HUNGARY ONE MORE STEP AWAY FROM LANDMINES
A three-day regional conference on anti-personnel landmines hosted by the Hungarian government in Budapest ended on 28 March with a declaration by ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga that mines were "weapons of the past, not of the future". The conference, which comprised parallel two-day seminars sponsored by the ICRC and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines respectively, brought together representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations from 19 Central and Eastern European countries.
The ICRC seminar, attended by representatives of the region's ministries of defence and foreign affairs, focused on the human cost and military utility of anti-personnel mines. The participants heard powerful evidence from outside military experts that, on the basis of their actual use, the military effectiveness of anti-personnel mines was extremely questionable, especially for the protection of long, unguarded borders. It was pointed out that alternatives already existed to fulfil the functions of these weapons in military doctrine.
The participants in the seminar adopted a very strong final declaration stating that the human cost of anti-personnel mines far outweighed their limited military utility and urging early adherence to the Ottawa treaty. The declaration was fully endorsed by all the participants in their personal capacity except for those from Belarus and the Russian Federation, who expressed support for its humanitarian objectives but were not able to agree with all its conclusions. Ten governments in the region have already signed the Ottawa treaty, and during the conference Hungarian President Arpad Goncz signed his country's instrument of ratification.
Further information: Stuart Maslen, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2533
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org : - ICRC Facts and figures: ICRC physical rehabilitation programmes for the war-disabled : 1997
During the weekend of 4 - 5 April1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty, Amanda Williamson, on (mobile) 41 79 357 15 24