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SUDAN / KENYA: INFLUX OF WOUNDED FROM EQUATORIA: Renewed fighting in the southern Sudanese region of Eastern Equatoria has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of patients being admitted to ICRC-supported medical facilities in the area.
GUINEA-BISSAU: ICRC ACTS AS NEUTRAL INTERMEDIARY: The members of the delegation representing the opposition forces at peace talks on Guinea-Bissau that took place in Abidjan in mid-September were stranded for three weeks in Banjul, Gambia, after problems arose in obtaining safety guarantees for their return by air over the zone held by Guinea-Bissau government troops.
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SUDAN / KENYA INFLUX OF WOUNDED FROM EQUATORIA
Renewed fighting in the southern Sudanese region of Eastern Equatoria has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of patients being admitted to ICRC-supported medical facilities in the area. On 2 October, the ICRC flew 33 wound victims to its surgical hospital in Lokichokio, in northern Kenya, and is now organizing a further evacuation.
The past six weeks have seen a 40% rise in admissions to the Lokichokio hospital as compared with July and August. In the first two weeks of October alone, 100 new patients were treated there, most arriving from Equatoria. More than half were suffering from gunshot wounds.
The ICRC surgical team at the Juba teaching hospital has recently treated 20 war victims. Under a cooperation agreement between the hospital's ICRC-supported surgical facility and the local military hospital, the civilian unit will in future care for wounded soldiers in the event of an influx exceeding the military hospital's capacity.
Further information: France Hurtubise, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++ 249 11 476 464 Michael Kleiner, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 22 81
GUINEA-BISSAU ICRC ACTS AS NEUTRAL INTERMEDIARY
The members of the delegation representing the opposition forces at peace talks on Guinea-Bissau that took place in Abidjan in mid-September were stranded for three weeks in Banjul, Gambia, after problems arose in obtaining safety guarantees for their return by air over the zone held by Guinea-Bissau government troops. The Guinea-Bissau authorities therefore asked the ICRC, which has been present in the country since the rebellion began, to arrange for the delegation to travel between the capital Bissau a seaport and therefore accessible from international airspace and the rebel-held area. Acting as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC obtained the consent of both parties for its plan to provide safe passage.
The operation took place on 8 October with the cooperation of diplomats from the countries that had taken part in the talks. The opposition representatives arrived by helicopter at the national stadium in Bissau, under government control, then travelled the dozen kilometres to the front lines in a convoy of several vehicles displaying the protective red cross emblem, before proceeding to an airforce base under opposition control.
Further information: Gilbert Delechat, ICRC Dakar, tel. ++221 8 241 293
During the weekend of 17 - 18 October 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Ruben Ortega, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 03