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MOROCCO / WESTERN SAHARA: ICRC VISITS MOROCCAN PRISONERS HELD BY POLISARIO FRONT: An ICRC team including a medical doctor visited 1,080 Moroccan prisoners held by the Polisario Front near Tindouf, Algeria, between 2 and 8 December.
AFGHANISTAN: WINTER RELIEF IN KABUL: As in previous years, the ICRC has set up a programme to assist part of the population of Kabul during what promises to be a harsh winter.
AFGHANISTAN: AID FOR VICTIMS OF ROCKET ATTACK ON KABUL: After several rockets fell on a densely populated residential area of Kabul on 13 December, the ICRC took 10 wounded people to the ICRC-supported Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. Many others were treated at other health-care facilities.
INDONESIA / EAST TIMOR: TRAINING IN HUMANITARIAN LAW: The ICRC held a series of workshops on international humanitarian law from 1 to 9 December for 200 senior Indonesian armed forces officers stationed in East Timor.
ICRC: 1999 BUDGET EXCEEDS 600 MILLION SWISS FRANCS: Representatives of the diplomatic missions in Geneva gathered on 14 December for the yearly budget-appeal presentation at ICRC headquarters.
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MOROCCO / WESTERN SAHARA ICRC VISITS MOROCCAN PRISONERS HELD BY POLISARIO FRONT
An ICRC team including a medical doctor visited 1,080 Moroccan prisoners held by the Polisario Front near Tindouf, Algeria, between 2 and 8 December. The delegates also saw the 84 prisoners released in April 1997 who are still awaiting repatriation to Morocco. All prisoners are visited by the ICRC once a year. Delegates visited 649 other prisoners last May.
Each prisoner was given an opportunity to send a Red Cross message and photographs to his family. The ICRC team brought with it a supply of insulin and plans to provide other medical supplies and to distribute hygiene items to the prisoners in the near future.
The ICRC is extremely concerned about the situation of these men, most of whom were captured between 1978 and 1982 and have therefore been held now for over 15 years. The organization is stepping up representations to the parties concerned in order to bring about a humanitarian solution as soon as possible. It remains available to supervise the repatriation of all prisoners held in connection with the Western Sahara conflict.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2307
AFGHANISTAN WINTER RELIEF IN KABUL
As in previous years, the ICRC has set up a programme to assist part of the population of Kabul during what promises to be a harsh winter. Warm clothing, plastic sheeting and coal will be distributed to almost 3,200 people living in 540 households headed by widows and eligible for ICRC assistance, as well as to 120 families with paraplegic breadwinners. The Afghan Red Crescent Society will assist 2,500 other families by providing them with the same basic essentials. The ICRC both furnishes these supplies and monitors their distribution. Furthermore, food rations are provided throughout the year to more than 22,000 particularly vulnerable families.
In addition, some 3,300 girls and boys, including 570 orphans, will receive shoes and other clothing.
Four Afghan non-governmental organizations have been selected to manufacture shoes and eiderdowns intended for the ICRC's beneficiaries. This provides two months of employment for more than 1,000 women.
AID FOR VICTIMS OF ROCKET ATTACK ON KABUL
After several rockets fell on a densely populated residential area of Kabul on 13 December, the ICRC took 10 wounded people to the ICRC-supported Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. Many others were treated at other health-care facilities. While some of the injured were fit to be discharged later the same day, those more seriously injured remain in hospital.
The attack was the most severe to hit Kabul since 21 September, when two rockets killed around 100 people.
Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Kabul, tel. ++873 761 242 260 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2224
INDONESIA / EAST TIMOR TRAINING IN HUMANITARIAN LAW
The ICRC held a series of workshops on international humanitarian law from 1 to 9 December for 200 senior Indonesian armed forces officers stationed in East Timor. The focus was on the proportionate use of force and the obligation of all those engaged in armed conflict to abide by the principles of the law. The participants also heard talks on the ICRC's mandate and the role played by the organization in East Timor.
The ICRC has been present since 1974 in East Timor, where its work consists mainly of efforts to ensure that the civilian population is spared the effects of the conflict. It also monitors conditions of detention and seeks to restore contact between members of families separated by the fighting. In conjunction with the Indonesian Red Cross Society, the ICRC is also carrying out a public health programme to provide remote villages with safe water.
Further information: Endah Sri R. Wahyu, ICRC Jakarta, tel. ++ 6221 720 72 52 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 4122 730 2224
ICRC 1999 BUDGET EXCEEDS 600 MILLION SWISS FRANCS
Representatives of the diplomatic missions in Geneva gathered on 14 December for the yearly budget-appeal presentation at ICRC headquarters. President Cornelio Sommaruga focused on the organization's new strategies, which consist of some 130 measures resulting from the Avenir project to be implemented over the next three years.
These changes reflect the need to adapt to new conflict situations and to adopt an approach to war victims that takes into account factors such as the rekindling of old conflicts, the unpredictable nature of new wars, the involvement of foreign armies in internal conflicts and the emergence of social and economic problems that feed violence and crime.
President Sommaruga also stressed the failure to respect international humanitarian law and the ICRC's mandate, rendering access to the victims increasingly difficult. Despite these difficulties, the number of people being aided by the ICRC did not decline in 1998 and operational costs remained stable.
On a more positive note, end-of-year accounts should balance despite a deficit of some 25 million Swiss francs as 1998 began. Headquarters and field operations are receiving support in cash, in kind and in services from the following sources: governments and the European Commission, 87%; National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 9.5%; private funds and public funds from sources other than national governments, 3.5%. Next year the ICRC will introduce a new planning system in which objectives will be set on the basis of results achieved and on groups whom the ICRC still seeks to assist, not on the programmes themselves. This new approach should make it possible to better pinpoint victims' needs and to take account of assessments made of situations in which the ICRC works. The 1999 budget has been set at 660,169,000 Swiss francs, slightly less than this year's.
In addition, the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions and the 27th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent will require support from the entire international community in 1999.
Finally, President Sommaruga presented the book Hard Choices Moral dilemmas in humanitarian intervention, published in New York by Rowman & Littlefield. Produced under ICRC auspices, the work is a collection of essays by 16 authors of international renown on humanitarian action and the choices and dilemmas in moral terms that must be faced. The aim of the work is to provide food for thought regarding this complex subject and to heighten the sense of responsibility of leading players in the humanitarian sphere.
Further information: Urs Boegli, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 2389
During the weekend of 19 - 20 December 1998, for all information please call the press officer on duty Michael Kleiner, on (mobile) 41 79 202 42 00