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ANGOLA: ICRC RESUMES RELIEF WORK IN HUAMBO: ICRC staff distributed essential relief supplies in Huambo's Munda neighbourhood on 7January. Tarpaulins, blankets, soap, cooking utensils and pails donated by UNICEF were provided for 426 displaced families (totalling 2,595 people) who had fled to the town in the previous three weeks.
GUINEA-BISSAU: ICRC AIDS 8,000 IN SOUTH: The ICRC has delivered food to the Empada area of southern Guinea-Bissau, where nearly 8,000 people were facing severe hardship as a result of their isolation during the conflict and the collapse of a dike, which flooded rice fields around 24 villages.
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ANGOLA ICRC RESUMES RELIEF WORK IN HUAMBO
ICRC staff distributed essential relief supplies in Huambo's Munda neighbourhood on 7January. Tarpaulins, blankets, soap, cooking utensils and pails donated by UNICEF were provided for 426 displaced families (totalling 2,595 people) who had fled to the town in the previous three weeks.
A similar distribution will be carried out on 13 January to 2,400 families (around 12,000 people) in the Benfica neighbourhood.
Since 5 January the ICRC has been delivering several thousand litres of drinking water daily to supplement mains supplies for around 20,000 people living in the Sao Jose neighbourhood, which has seen a sizeable influx of displaced people.
Basic medicines and bandages have also been delivered to the main hospital in Huambo, which has remained open since the start of recent events.
The ICRC is strengthening its operational capacity in the area. Additional delegates have been deployed and two special flights were chartered from Nairobi on 8 and 9 January to replenish stocks.
The ICRC is preparing to send a survey team to Kuito in the next few days. If conditions allow, delegates will also visit other conflict zones.
Further information: Marjolaine Martin, ICRC Luanda, tel: ++2442 364 454
GUINEA-BISSAU ICRC AIDS 8,000 IN SOUTH
The ICRC has delivered food to the Empada area of southern Guinea-Bissau, where nearly 8,000 people were facing severe hardship as a result of their isolation during the conflict and the collapse of a dike, which flooded rice fields around 24 villages.
Unable to cross the front lines, the inhabitants of the southern areas of Quinara and Tombali were cut off from the outside world between June and November last year. The failure of their crops made residents of the 24 villages even more vulnerable. The ICRC therefore decided to make a special food distribution to meet their needs over the next two months.
The ICRC has been present in Guinea-Bissau throughout the conflict. It closely monitors matters of humanitarian concern and conducts regular surveys throughout the country. After making general relief distributions during the second half of 1998, it has now decided to focus on particularly vulnerable areas.
Further information: Gilbert Delechat, ICRC Dakar, tel: ++221 8241 293
New on the ICRC Public Server - http://www.icrc.org : - Update 99/01 on ICRC activities in Iraq, dated 8.01.99. - Update No 99/01 on ICRC activities in Angola, dated 7.01.99.
During the weekend of 16 - 17 January 1999, for all information please call the press officer on duty Amanda Williamson, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 16