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AFGHANISTAN: ICRC STILL PRESENT: Following the recent events in Afghanistan, including the US air strikes, the ICRC has received security guarantees from the Taliban authorities and is maintaining its operation in the country.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: FIRST VISITS TO DETAINEES AND WATER FOR POPULATION: On 19 August the ICRC began conducting visits, in accordance with its customary working procedures, to people held at the Kokolo military base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
YUGOSLAVIA/KOSOVO: ICRC BRINGS SURGICAL TEAM TO THE WOUNDED: For the past week the ICRC has been ferrying a team of six local surgeons to various field hospitals in urgent need of assistance in Kosovo.
SUDAN: ASSISTANCE TO FORGOTTEN VICTIMS: Some 59,000 people forced to leave their homes on account of the fighting around Kassala in north-eastern Sudan have found refuge in six makeshift camps.
SUDAN: FREED SOLDIERS RETURN HOME: On 20 August, 77 government soldiers released by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the town of Yei, near the Ugandan border in southern Sudan, were flown to Khartoum aboard an ICRC-chartered plane.
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AFGHANISTAN ICRC STILL PRESENT
Following the recent events in Afghanistan, including the US air strikes, the ICRC has received security guarantees from the Taliban authorities and is maintaining its operation in the country.
A reduced staff of about 30 expatriates is continuing to carry out protection and assistance activities alongside some 1,000 local employees at ICRC offices in Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, Jalalabad, Ghazni and Mazar-i-Sharif. Five delegates have recently arrived in Mazar-i-Sharif to assess the situation and pursue the ICRC's medical and protection activities there.
The six Ministry of Health hospitals supported by the ICRC (two in Kabul and one each in Jalalabad, Kandahar, Ghazni and Herat) are well stocked and running normally. In Kandahar, there are eight expatriate doctors and nurses handling emergency cases. The ICRC has provided medical supplies for the hospital in Pul-i-Khumri, which received numerous casualties after the recent fighting in the region, and the hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif. In addition, the limb-fitting centres in Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, Kabul and Jalalabad are continuing to supply prostheses for amputees.
As part of the ICRC's sanitation projects in Afghanistan, some 6,500 latrines have been built or repaired in Kabul and in the country's prisons since the beginning of the year.
Last week the ICRC concluded its distributions in the capital for some 25,000 families headed by widows or amputees. The distributions will resume in September. Meanwhile, the "food-for-work" programme designed to facilitate the return of displaced people from camps near Herat to Bala Murgab is continuing.
Further information: Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 22 24
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO FIRST VISITS TO DETAINEES AND WATER FOR POPULATION
On 19 August the ICRC began conducting visits, in accordance with its customary working procedures, to people held at the Kokolo military base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. So far, delegates have seen some 160 detainees and distributed food, blankets and hygiene items. The ICRC is continuing its efforts to obtain access to all persons held in connection with the conflict in the country.
For the past week the ICRC has also endeavoured to alleviate problems caused by electricity cuts in Kinshasa. A continuous supply of electricity is essential to prevent shortages of drinking water, which is so crucial to the survival of the city's millions of inhabitants. Since the cuts began, an ICRC tanker truck has delivered water on a regular basis to various neighbourhoods. In addition, water tanks have been installed in the 2,000-bed general hospital in Kinshasa and at the Kokolo and Ceta military hospitals. The water storage capacity of the general hospital has been brought to 59,000 litres, with special tanks covering the needs of the surgical and maternity wards. At the same time, rehabilitation work is continuing on the facility's septic tank and toilets.
The ICRC has also provided transport to bring chemicals needed for water purification to the three main water treatment plants in Kinshasa and has delivered some 30 tonnes of salt to Rgideso, the national supplier of chlorine.
Further information: Michael Kleiner, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 22 81
YUGOSLAVIA/KOSOVO ICRC BRINGS SURGICAL TEAM TO THE WOUNDED
For the past week the ICRC has been ferrying a team of six local surgeons to various field hospitals in urgent need of assistance in Kosovo. The six, who volunteered for the task, have so far performed close to 60 operations - including 13 major ones - in three different locations. Their patients include women and children.
This move follows the discovery last week by an ICRC health delegate of an exhausted surgeon who was working alone in a makeshift clinic and desperately needed help to cope with the influx of patients, many of whom were seriously wounded. The ICRC undertook negotiations with the Serb authorities in Pristina to obtain permission for the team to begin its work.
Says Margaret Bryson, the ICRC health delegate who organized this assistance: "The dedication and courage shown by the team are really impressive. They realized that their skills were needed, and didn't hesitate to go".
Meanwhile, ICRC teams are continuing to provide transport for particularly vulnerable people so that they can be reunited with their families or taken to centres where proper care is available. Last week the ICRC received authorization from the Ministry of Health to take four elderly people to Pristina, where they either entered a rest home or were reunited their families. They had been discovered in a very weak state and virtually abandoned in an institution near Decane, where the living conditions were appalling.
Further information: Amanda Williamson or Nic Sommer, ICRC Pristina, tel. ++4179 357 1524, Gordana Milenkovic, ICRC Belgrade, tel. ++381 11 761 063
SUDAN ASSISTANCE TO FORGOTTEN VICTIMS
Some 59,000 people forced to leave their homes on account of the fighting around Kassala in north-eastern Sudan have found refuge in six makeshift camps.
Many of the 25,000 displaced since July are living in huts made of branches covered with bits of cloth to protect them against the rain and sun. The rainy season in Kassala lasts from July to October and has turned the camps into a morass of thick mud and streams of runoff water.
Since March, the Sudanese Red Crescent has been distributing blankets, plastic sheeting, water bags, cooking pots and soap supplied by the ICRC. It is also operating three clinics serving both displaced Sudanese and refugees from Eritrea. The ICRC is providing assistance in running the clinics.
"Although international attention is largely focused on the severe food shortage in southern Sudan, the displaced in Kassala are nonetheless in a precarious situation", explained head of delegation Pierre Ryter.
The ICRC is giving structural support to the local branch of the Sudanese Red Crescent, which in addition to caring for the displaced is also providing emergency aid for 200 families in Kassala forced from their homes last week by flooding of the Gash river.
FREED SOLDIERS RETURN HOME
On 20 August, 77 government soldiers released by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the town of Yei, near the Ugandan border in southern Sudan, were flown to Khartoum aboard an ICRC-chartered plane. The soldiers had been held for periods ranging from one to 11 years. With the agreement of the Sudanese government and the SPLA, the ICRC acted as a neutral intermediary in this opration.
In early June the SPLA had asked the ICRC to help the soldiers rejoin their families in government-controlled areas of the country. ICRC delegates subsequently had private interviews with each soldier to check whether they wished to return home or remain in the south. Only a few had elected to stay.
Among those flown home was Mohammed, whose 22-year-old daughter can finally start planning her wedding day. During his captivity, she had written him Red Cross messages saying that she wanted to get married and promising to put off the ceremony until his release. Mohammed last saw his daughter when she was 12.
Before boarding the plane, each former captive received a new set of clothing from the ICRC. But the main concern for one member of the group was whether or not he could keep the Red Cross messages he had received from his family while he was in captivity.
The ICRC organizes the exchange of such messages between family members separated by armed conflict. For many years Red Cross messages were the only way most of the released soldiers could keep in touch with their relatives. All the soldiers were allowed to keep their messages.
Further information, Bernard Barrett, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++249 11 476 464 Michael Kleiner, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2281
During the weekend of 29 - 30 August 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Michael Kleiner, on (mobile) 41 79 202 42 00