** SHORT MENU....
SOUTHERN SUDAN: FIGHTING FAMINE IN WAU: Almost 1,000 children are currently under the care of the feeding centre being run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Sudanese Red Crescent in the town of Wau, in one of the areas suffering most from the famine racking southern Sudan.
YUGOSLAVIA / KOSOVO: INCREASING ALARM AT SCALE OF KOSOVO CRISIS: The flight of tens of thousands of people from their homes in central Kosovo during the most recent operations by Serbian forces has resulted in a degree of desperation unprecedented since the crisis there began.
AFGHANISTAN: FOREIGN AID WORKERS LEAVE MAZAR-I-SHARIF: In the wake of the fighting that has raged near Mazar-i-Sharif between forces of the Taliban and the northern alliance, the ICRC took action on 4 August to evacuate the eight expatriate staff members of non-international organizations who still remained in Mazar-i-Sharif. As a result, there no longer remain any non-Afghan humanitarian workers in the northern Afghan city.
PERU: AID FOR DETAINEES BEING HELD AT HIGH-ALTITUDE PRISON: Owing to the facility's extreme isolation, the ICRC has from time to time been supplying aid to the high-security Challapalca prison in the Peruvian department of Tacna. In addition to distributing blankets and recreational material, the ICRC has provided financial assistance to enable families of the some 100 penal-law detainees held there to travel to the prison, which is situated at an elevation of over 5,000 metres.
** STORIES IN FULL...
SOUTHERN SUDAN FIGHTING FAMINE IN WAU
Almost 1,000 children are currently under the care of the feeding centre being run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Sudanese Red Crescent in the town of Wau, in one of the areas suffering most from the famine racking southern Sudan. The 27 Red Crescent volunteers working at the centre prepare thousands of meals a day on the cooking fires: as many as four a day for the most seriously affected children and one for each of the individual family members who accompany some of them.
About half of the children registered at the feeding centre are classified as severely malnourished, their bones clearly visible beneath their skin. The centre includes a medical dispensary as many of the children are also ill with malaria, intestinal problems and eye infections.
Those arriving in recent days are in worse condition than people who reached Wau in previous weeks. "They have been travelling from further and further away", explains Agnes Dhur, the ICRC nutritionist there. "These are people who tried to survive at home, with what little they had, for longer periods of time."
"The situation is beyond desperate", says nurse Elisabeth Mouton, who has been working at the feeding centre for three weeks. "Every day we receive orphans, children whose parents have died along the way. Many have walked for five or six days to reach Wau. They are finding shelter where they can, in abandoned buildings and ruins scattered around the town."
In the town's streets people wait to be taken in by one of the aid organizations present. Many lie on the ground, no longer able to sit up. ICRC nurse Corrie Baas and her 12-year-old assistant Joseph carry around a bucket of water mixed with oral rehydration solution, giving a mugful to the most desperate. "I know I can't save them all", she says. "But at least I can provide some comfort. No matter how obviously hopeless a case is, you can't simply walk past." Across the road from the feeding centre, an open field is quickly filling with graves.
Further information: Bernard Barrett, ICRC Khartoum, ++ 249 11 476 464 Nina Galbe, ICRC Nairobi, ++ 254 2 723 963 / 4 / 5 Roland Sidler, ICRC Geneva, ++ 41 22 730 22 81
YUGOSLAVIA / KOSOVO INCREASING ALARM AT SCALE OF KOSOVO CRISIS
The flight of tens of thousands of people from their homes in central Kosovo during the most recent operations by Serbian forces has resulted in a degree of desperation unprecedented since the crisis there began.
ICRC teams travelling in central Kosovo have been shocked to find groups of thousands of people living in appalling conditions surviving in the open air under makeshift shelters and in urgent need of food and medicine. In the searing heat of summer, drinking water is in especially short supply, particularly for vulnerable groups like children and old people. The risk of epidemics is on the rise. Emergency stocks of food, medicines and hygienic supplies have already started to be provided and deliveries of water are being organized as quickly as possible.
On Tuesday, delegates visited Mitrovica and surrounding towns where they encountered thousands of families including elderly people and young children fleeing from the ongoing fighting in the Drenica area. Many were travelling in large tractor convoys in a state of extreme shock and trauma.
ICRC staff have gone this week to Prizren, Mamusa and the Mount Berisha range to continue bringing urgent aid to those who fled Malisevo last week. Delegates saw houses either burning or already burnt to the ground.
Well over 100,000 people have fled their homes since the crisis in Kosovo began. The swiftly evolving situation and recent major population movements make it difficult to accurately assess the numbers of displaced, but the ICRC will nevertheless attempt to do so in the coming days while acting to meet immediate needs.
In order to respond to the growing crisis, the ICRC is reinforcing its personnel and replenishing its stocks in the region.
Further information: Amanda Williamson, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 2678 ICRC Belgrade, tel. ++381 11 761 063
AFGHANISTAN FOREIGN AID WORKERS LEAVE MAZAR-I-SHARIF
In the wake of the fighting that has raged near Mazar-i-Sharif between forces of the Taliban and the northern alliance, the ICRC took action on 4 August to evacuate the eight expatriate staff members of non-international organizations who still remained in Mazar-i-Sharif. As a result, there no longer remain any non-Afghan humanitarian workers in the northern Afghan city.
Since the heavy fighting of last March, no ICRC delegates have been based in Mazar-i-Sharif. The sub-delegation remains open, however, and delegates have been going there on ad hoc missions to carry out the organization's work in the area with the help of 90 local Afghan employees. The expatriates themselves, however, never go beyond the city limits. Items needed for the treatment of casualties have in recent days been supplied to the military hospital there.
Further information: Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++ 41 22 730 22 24
PERU AID FOR DETAINEES BEING HELD AT HIGH-ALTITUDE PRISON
Owing to the facility's extreme isolation, the ICRC has from time to time been supplying aid to the high-security Challapalca prison in the Peruvian department of Tacna. In addition to distributing blankets and recreational material, the ICRC has provided financial assistance to enable families of the some 100 penal-law detainees held there to travel to the prison, which is situated at an elevation of over 5,000 metres.
In the second quarter of 1998, the ICRC continued its protection work in behalf of security detainees in Peru. In all, 1,148 such detainees were visited in 22 places, including an institution for minors in Lima and a new prison for women in Junin department.
Further information: Roland Sidler, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++41 22 730 22 81 Jean-Luc Noverraz, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++41 22 730 29 67
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org : - Update 98/06 on the activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in response to the crisis in Kosovo, dated 30.07.98
During the weekend of 8 - 9 August 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Beatrcie Megevand-Roggo, on (mobile) 41 79 202 36 70