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YUGOSLAVIA / KOSOVO: ICRC RELIEF FOR THE DISPLACED: In the past two weeks delegates have distributed 80 tonnes of wheat flour, spaghetti, sugar, salt and yeast to displaced persons in Kosovo
SRI LANKA: ICRC ASSISTS IN DETAINEE RELEASE: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have released six Sri Lankan government soldiers as well as two crewmen from the ferry Iris Mona and one from the M.V. Missen. Carried out under ICRC auspices, the release took place on 24 October.
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YUGOSLAVIA / KOSOVO ICRC RELIEF FOR THE DISPLACED
In the past two weeks delegates have distributed 80 tonnes of wheat flour, spaghetti, sugar, salt and yeast to displaced persons in Kosovo. More than 8,000 blankets, 23,000 candles and other essential items have also been provided to ease the desperate plight of the thousands of people driven from their homes by the fighting in the Yugoslav province.
In addition, the ICRC has furnished 232 tonnes of food and non-food relief since 1 October to the Montenegrin branch of the Yugoslav Red Cross for nearly 50,000 Kosovars registered as displaced in Montenegro.
The Yugoslav Red Cross has received similar support from the ICRC for some 10,000 particularly needy people, and vehicles donated by the Italian Red Cross will soon be delivered to the National Society.
One of the most pressing challenges for the ICRC is to provide the displaced with emergency assistance as the rigours of winter begin to make themselves felt. In the coming weeks, basic items including warm clothes, boots and cooking stoves will be delivered to displaced people wherever they are to help them survive the frequently harsh winter conditions.
Further information: Josue Anselmo, ICRC Pristina, tel. ++381 38 590 074 Gordona Milenkovic, ICRC Belgrade, tel. ++381 11 761 063 Amanda Williamson, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2678
SRI LANKA ICRC ASSISTS IN DETAINEE RELEASE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have released six Sri Lankan government soldiers as well as two crewmen from the ferry Iris Mona and one from the M.V. Missen. Carried out under ICRC auspices, the release took place on 24 October.
Delegates handed the soldiers over to the military authorities in Vavuniya the same day, while the three civilians were escorted by the ICRC to Colombo, where they were reunited with their families the following day.
The nine detainees concerned were regularly visited by the ICRC prior to their release. The soldiers had been held by the LTTE since 1993, the two crewmen from the Iris Mona since 1995 and the Missen crewman since July 1997.
The ICRC has been present since 1989 in Sri Lanka, where 50 expatriate staff and 300SriLankan nationals work out of its delegation in Colombo and eleven other offices in the north and east of the island country.
Further information: Harasha Gunawardene, ICRC Colombo, tel. ++941 503 346 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2224
During the weekend of 31 October - 1 November 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Michael Kleiner, on (mobile) 41 79 202 42 00