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FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA: ICRC REACHES KIJEVO: Last weekend an ICRC team managed to reach the village of Kijevo, in central Kosovo, where over 400 people -- around 100 local and displaced Serb families, but also some ethnic Albanian and Romany families -- have been cut off from the outside world for the past two months owing to the fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army and government security forces.
SIERRA LEONE: MAIMED CIVILIANS RECEIVE SURGICAL TREATMENT IN FREETOWN: The 60-bed Netland hospital, transformed by the ICRC into a reconstructive surgery facility, opened its doors on 26 June. Seven war-wounded patients were operated on within the following three days.
GUINEA-BISSAU: ASSISTING THE DISPLACED AND ASSESSING NEEDS: During the last two weeks, over 120 tonnes of food have been distributed to some 35,000 displaced persons in and around Bissau by the ICRC and the Guinea-Bissau Red Cross, which is receiving support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: INAUGURATION OF LIMB-FITTING WORKSHOP IN KINSHASA: The ICRC and the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo officially inaugurated the Kalembe-Lembe limb-fitting workshop in Kinshasa on 27June following the signing, on 28 March, of a cooperation agreement between the two organizations.
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FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA ICRC REACHES KIJEVO
Last weekend an ICRC team managed to reach the village of Kijevo, in central Kosovo, where over 400 people -- around 100 local and displaced Serb families, but also some ethnic Albanian and Romany families -- have been cut off from the outside world for the past two months owing to the fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army and government security forces.
The main aim of the visit was to assess the needs of the civilian population in terms of protection and material assistance. Although food is available, medicines are scarce and, with the electricity supply having been cut three weeks ago, the water pumps are no longer functioning. The survival of the crops is also a concern in Kijevo and other areas of Kosovo where the fighting has made it unsafe for villagers to go into the fields.
The delegates delivered individual food parcels, hygiene items, baby kits, blankets, candles and jerrycans to the most vulnerable people, including displaced families. The villagers welcomed not only the assistance but also the very presence of the ICRC, the only humanitarian organization to have reached Kijevo so far.
Further trips are planned in the coming days to Kijevo and other parts of Kosovo where isolated groups of civilians are living in precarious humanitarian and security conditions.
Further information: Gordana Milenkovic, ICRC Belgrade, tel. ++381 11 761 063 Amanda Williamson, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2678
SIERRA LEONE MAIMED CIVILIANS RECEIVE SURGICAL TREATMENT IN FREETOWN
The 60-bed Netland hospital, transformed by the ICRC into a reconstructive surgery facility, opened its doors on 26 June. Seven war-wounded patients were operated on within the following three days.
"The ICRC set up the hospital to provide surgical care and rehabilitation for civilians who have sustained war injuries and require primary or secondary surgery or specialized care to recover the use of their limbs", said Stephanie O'Connor, Netland's head nurse. The first patients admitted were transferred from Connaught hospital, previously the only hospital providing war surgery, while arrangements were being made for patients to be transferred from hospitals in other parts of the country.
The Sierra Leone Red Cross blood bank is supplying blood for the hospital. An independent physiotherapy centre with a capacity of 120 patients is being set up and the first cases should be admitted in the beginning of July. Medical personnel will also be trained in the principles of war surgery.
The ICRC is currently providing five hospitals and 20 clinics countrywide with basic medicines. It is also carrying out water and sanitation work in the Makeni, Port Loko and Kenema areas involving the chlorination of over 6,000 wells and the digging of 60 new ones in the north in cooperation with the National Society and the Ministry of Health.
Other activities include regular visits to people held in seven places of detention throughout the country. The exchange of Red Cross messages both between families separated by the conflict and between detainees and their families has expanded to reach an average of 360 messages a week.
A distribution of upland and swamp rice seed to 10,000 farming families in the Tonkolili and Kenema districts has just been completed in cooperation with the Sierra Leone Red Cross, and a distribution of swamp rice seed to 7,651 farming families in the Pujehun district is currently under way.
Further information: Aleksandra Matijevic, ICRC Freetown, tel. ++232 22 24 14 38
GUINEA-BISSAU ASSISTING THE DISPLACED AND ASSESSING NEEDS
During the last two weeks, over 120 tonnes of food have been distributed to some 35,000 displaced persons in and around Bissau by the ICRC and the Guinea-Bissau Red Cross, which is receiving support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The food (rice, cooking oil and canned beef) was provided by the United Nations World Food Programme.
If a truce can be negotiated, a team of Red Cross volunteers stands ready to bury the dead in the capital's northern districts, where the heaviest fighting took place. Meanwhile, the ICRC and the National Society have installed 5,000-litre tanks of drinking water for the displaced in three locations in the outskirts of the city.
The three ICRC delegates who entered Guinea-Bissau last week from the neighbouring Republic of Guinea are continuing to assess the situation in the northern, central and southern parts of the country. For the time being the displaced appear to have found refuge among the local population, but their needs are great.
The most urgent priorities are to ensure access to drinking water, especially in the urban areas, provide hospitals and dispensaries with medical supplies and distribute food to the displaced, who are currently dependent on the meagre resources of the local population and whose situation could rapidly deteriorate if the conflict drags on.
National Society volunteers and an ICRC delegate sent in from Dakar are also carrying out a survey of the situation in the Bissagos Islands, off the coast of Bissau.
Further information: Jean-Jacques Tshamala, ICRC Dakar, tel. + +221 8 241 293
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO INAUGURATION OF LIMB-FITTING WORKSHOP IN KINSHASA
The ICRC and the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo officially inaugurated the Kalembe-Lembe limb-fitting workshop in Kinshasa on 27June following the signing, on 28 March, of a cooperation agreement between the two organizations.
In addition to supplying technical assistance and rehabilitating the existing buildings, the ICRC sent Francois Blaise, an experienced prosthetic technician, to lend a hand. MrBlaise, who will work together with a team of technicians and craftsmen from the National Society, has already carried out ICRC assignments in Angola, Kenya, southern Sudan and Cambodia. The new workshop will produce artificial limbs and orthopaedic appliances made of polypropylene, a material which has the advantage of being inexpensive and light.
Accidents and anti-personnel mines account for most amputations performed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the workshop opened on 26 May, consultations have been given to 35 soldiers and dozens of civilians. "The limb I'm wearing now is made of wood and weighs nearly three kilos, which makes it very difficult for me to move about", said Remy Ngamutala, who was the victim of an accident in Kinshasa in 1989 and is among those who will soon be fitted with new limbs at the Red Cross workshop.
According to Francois Blaise, there is plenty to be done: "As soon as the workshop opened, the news spread like wildfire. We already have a list of over 200 people who are to be given consultations and artificial limbs by the end of the year."
Further information: France Hurtubise, CICR Kinshasa, tel. ++ 243 12 34 191
During the weekend of 4 - 5 July 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Corinne Adam, on (mobile) 41 79 357 50 03