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SUDAN: ICRC KITCHENS FEED DISPLACED PEOPLE IN TONJ: The small town of Tonj in the Bahr el Ghazal region of southern Sudan normally has a population of about 600. These days the number varies between 8,000 and 12,000.
YUGOSLAVIA/MONTENEGRO: RED CROSS STRUGGLES TO COPE WITH INFLUX OF DISPLACED FROM KOSOVO: By mid-August the number of internally displaced persons from Kosovo registered in Montenegro was as high as 32,000, and their situation in terms of accommodation, hygiene and medical needs is starting to give cause for serious concern.
SRI LANKA: INDIAN NATIONALS RELEASED UNDER ICRC AUSPICES: On 18 August, 17 Indian crew members of the merchant vessel Princess Kash were released by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and handed over to officials of the Indian High Commission in Colombo, under the auspices of the ICRC.
ANGOLA: A NEW LIFE FOR AMPUTEES: Riki could not believe his eyes. Though he is one of the most experienced pilots flying for the ICRC, with about 30,000 hours under his belt, he had never seen anything like this.
CHANGES IN THE PRESS UNIT: As from 21 August 1998 Urs Boegli will head the ICRC's new Media Unit. He will also act as spokesman for the organization, replacing Philippe Lazzarini, who will be taking up other duties.
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SUDAN ICRC KITCHENS FEED DISPLACED PEOPLE IN TONJ
The small town of Tonj in the Bahr el Ghazal region of southern Sudan normally has a population of about 600. These days the number varies between 8,000 and 12,000.
The ICRC is running three kitchens in Tonj for displaced people in urgent need of food. The first has been set up in an abandoned mission compound and caters for the most vulnerable, such as the blind, the disabled and people suffering from leprosy. It serves two meals a day, consisting of maize flour, beans, oil and salt, to 468 people.
Another of the kitchens, installed in what used to be a medical dispensary, is for severely malnourished children and adults. Behind the main building, plastic tarpaulins rigged up on poles protect the kitchen from the sun and rain. At mealtimes, all around the courtyard 460 people sit on the ground in well ordered groups and rows. Most have their plastic ICRC registration cards dangling from strings around their necks. Lines of ash on the ground separate the various sections of the compound. The first priority was to set up the kitchen, so there was no time to put up fences or other means of crowd control, but the symbolic perimeters are scrupulously respected.
Once the 460 are served, ICRC personnel look around for the weakest of the new arrivals who have not yet been registered at the kitchen. The remaining food is divided among them. ICRC nurse Corinne Borloz says that now the meal distribution system is in place the medical staff are starting to diagnose and treat common ailments, such as worm infestation, while people wait for their food.
A third ICRC facility is providing therapeutic milk and meals to children and mothers who are breast-feeding. Some 670 children receive four mugfuls of enriched milk and one meal of sorghum and beans a day. The children range in age from three to the early teens. Many are naked, others wear shirts or pieces of cloth tied at the shoulder. The bones and joints of a number of children are clearly visible through their skin. But, even among those who have regained some physical semblance of normal childhood, many of them have the reddish hair or bald spots that betray advanced malnutrition.
In front of the building are 180 women, each holding an infant or a small child. The mothers are given milk and two meals per day, and are encouraged to continue breast-feeding. With the help of a Dinka translator, ICRC nutritionist Jennifer MacMahon coaxes them to eat their meals: "You have to eat and drink more to produce more milk, or your babies will die."
This week the ICRC is airlifting 45 tonnes of food, together with blankets and tarpaulins, to the towns of Ajiep and Panthou. The food, consisting of high-energy biscuits, will be distributed to about 6,000 people through the feeding centres operated in both towns by Medecins sans fronti=8Ares. "There are very high malnutrition and mortality rates among children and adults in Ajiep and Panthou", said Pierre Gratzl, the ICRC health coordinator for southern Sudan. "The ICRC has the logistic capacity to help, so that's what we're doing."
Further information: Bernard Barrett, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++249 11 476 464 Michael Kleiner, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2281
YUGOSLAVIA/MONTENEGRO RED CROSS STRUGGLES TO COPE WITH INFLUX OF DISPLACED FROM KOSOVO
By mid-August the number of internally displaced persons from Kosovo registered in Montenegro was as high as 32,000, and their situation in terms of accommodation, hygiene and medical needs is starting to give cause for serious concern. Most of them have found refuge in the municipalities of Ulcinj, Plav and Rozaje. The displaced have now stopped entering these areas, because there is absolutely no more room left to house them.
On 13 August an ICRC team reached a group of 270 displaced people from Kosovo, including 150 children, who had found shelter in stables and shepherds' huts in the village of Bandzov, in the mountains above Rozaje. They were given blankets and hygiene items to meet their most urgent needs.
In Plav, the local hotel, which has been turned into a reception centre, is currently accommodating 630 displaced persons. The premises are overcrowded and sanitation conditions inadequate. An ICRC sanitation expert will look into the possibility of providing a sufficient supply of water and proper sanitation facilities for the hotel and other collective shelters, most of which are designed for completely different purposes and are not suited to house large numbers of people.
With its distribution network and the experience in catering for the requirements of 28,000 refugees gained during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the Red Cross of Montenegro is doing its utmost to help the new arrivals, but is finding it increasingly difficult to meet their needs. It is working with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the ICRC, which has supplied it with emergency aid for some 15,000 displaced people and is closely monitoring developments so as to be ready to cover any further humanitarian needs that may arise.
Further information: Gordona Milenkovic, ICRC Belgrade, tel. ++38111 761 063 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2224
SRI LANKA INDIAN NATIONALS RELEASED UNDER ICRC AUSPICES
On 18 August, 17 Indian crew members of the merchant vessel Princess Kash were released by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and handed over to officials of the Indian High Commission in Colombo, under the auspices of the ICRC.
ICRC delegates have visited and registered the four Sri Lankan crew members still in LTTE custody, and have given them the opportunity to write Red Cross messages to their families. On 14 August, the Princess Kash and her 21 crew members became stranded off the coast of north-eastern Mullaitivu and were seized by LTTE forces. The ICRC was immediately contacted by the parties involved and asked to act as a neutral intermediary.
The ICRC has been in Sri Lanka since 1989. A total of 45 expatriates and 300 Sri Lankans are currently working out of its offices in Colombo, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mallavi, Puthukkudiyiruppu, Jaffna, Mutur, Akkaraipattu, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Point Pedro.
Further information: Harasha Gunewardene, ICRC Colombo, tel. ++941 503 346 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2224
ANGOLA A NEW LIFE FOR AMPUTEES
Riki could not believe his eyes. Though he is one of the most experienced pilots flying for the ICRC, with about 30,000 hours under his belt, he had never seen anything like this. Just three weeks earlier he had flown 10 anxious amputees from Malange to Huambo. They could barely walk, let alone board the aircraft on their own. And now those same people were going home, happy and grateful for their recovered freedom of movement and dignity. With pride, they marched past the flabbergasted pilot up the steps to the plane, brandishing crutches which had, for them, become useless and even cumbersome. "This is one flight I will never forget", Riki told us.
In Angola the ICRC flies amputees to the Huambo and Kuito limb-fitting centres, which are run jointly by the ICRC and the Angolan Ministry of Health. This service began in September 1997 with patients from Lunda Norte province, and was stepped up in March 1998. Over 100 amputees from remote provinces such as Cabinda and Malange have already received artificial limbs at the ICRC centres.
Further information: Paolo Dell'Oca, ICRC Luanda, tel. ++2442 366 666
CHANGES IN THE PRESS UNIT
As from 21 August 1998 Urs Boegli will head the ICRC's new Media Unit. He will also act as spokesman for the organization, replacing Philippe Lazzarini, who will be taking up other duties. The Unit will be under the immediate responsibility of the Director-General.
Urs Boegli joined the ICRC in 1980. He later served as head of delegation in Sudan, Thailand, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cambodia, before being appointed Deputy Delegate-General for Asia and the Pacific. He currently holds the post of head of the Communication Department.
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org : - ICRC Update 98/07 on the activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in response to the crisis in Kosovo, dated 12.08.98
During the weekend of 22 - 23 August 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Michael Kleiner, on (mobile) 41 79 202 42 00