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GUINEA-BISSAU: RELIEF FOR RETURNING RESIDENTS: After fleeing their homes when Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, was racked by heavy fighting in the summer and autumn of last year, most of the city's 300,000 inhabitants have been gradually returning since a peace agreement was signed in November.
KENYA: RED CROSS AIDS THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED PEOPLE: In a survey carried out in late December and early January, three months after cattle raiders descended on the Wajir district in Kenya's remote North-Eastern province, the Red Cross has found thousands of people, mainly women and children, still displaced and fending for themselves in desolate camps.
SUDAN: TEACHING THE LAW TO COMBATANTS: In mid-January the ICRC organized a four-day course on the law of armed conflict which brought together 31 senior officers of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the Bahr el Gazal region.
COLOMBIA: AID TO VICTIMS OF FIGHTING IN THE NORTH In the past few weeks ICRC delegates and members of the Colombian Red Cross have been assisting people affected by an upsurge in violence between self-defence groups and guerrilla forces in areas controlled by the guerrillas in the northern Colombian departments of Cesar and Magdalena.
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GUINEA-BISSAU RELIEF FOR RETURNING RESIDENTS
After fleeing their homes when Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, was racked by heavy fighting in the summer and autumn of last year, most of the city's 300,000 inhabitants have been gradually returning since a peace agreement was signed in November. Most of the fighting took place in central Bissau but many heavy artillery shells landed in the outskirts as well.
Working in conjunction with the Red Cross Society of Guinea-Bissau, the ICRC has begun providing non-food aid to people living in houses damaged during the hostilities. Over 18,000 people are estimated to be living in 2,500 such homes throughout the capital. Because of the extremely difficult conditions they face, they have been given priority in distributions of tents, buckets, mats, jerrycans and soap.
Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 2281
KENYA RED CROSS AIDS THOUSANDS OF DISPLACED PEOPLE
In a survey carried out in late December and early January, three months after cattle raiders descended on the Wajir district in Kenya's remote North-Eastern province, the Red Cross has found thousands of people, mainly women and children, still displaced and fending for themselves in desolate camps.
"We distributed food and other aid to the victims immediately after the attack", said Vincent Nicod, head of the ICRC's Nairobi delegation. "But the fact is that these people have lost their only means of subsistence and continue to be in desperate need of help. The stronger individuals have built makeshift shelters. Others, however, are sleeping in the open in the cold night air, which makes them vulnerable to chest infections. And in their weakened condition, that can be fatal."
Working in close conjunction with the Kenya Red Cross Society, the ICRC has been distributing rice, beans, cooking oil, salt, blankets, tarpaulins, cooking pots and basic medicines to the neediest victims of the violence. The more than 800 families benefiting from the aid are survivors of attacks by unknown raiders on several villages in Wajir district on 24 October. The raids left nearly 150 people dead while 17,000 head of cattle the mainstay of the region's nomadic society were stolen.
The families, now living in three camps, have told the Red Cross that they are still too frightened to return to their homes. To ease their plight, plans have been made to dig four boreholes to provide clean water in the camps, which are located on barren, arid terrain.
Further information: Nina Galbe, ICRC Nairobi, tel. ++254 2 728 387 Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 2281
SUDAN TEACHING THE LAW TO COMBATANTS
In mid-January the ICRC organized a four-day course on the law of armed conflict which brought together 31 senior officers of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in the Bahr el Gazal region. This was the first event of its kind organized with the SPLA since the ICRC resumed its activities in Sudan last June.
At the same time some 230 members of the Sudanese government armed forces and 180 policemen attended presentations on international humanitarian law in Bentiu, in western Upper Nile state. Two sessions were also organized in Leer and Bentiu for 760 members of the government-supported Southern Sudan Defence Forces.
Similar programmes are under way in the government-held towns of Wau and Juba as well as in a number of SPLA-controlled areas.
A three-day humanitarian law course had been held in November for 27 senior officers in charge of training from different units at the Command and Staff College in Khartoum. Instruction in humanitarian law for the Sudanese armed forces was further strengthened throughout December, when participants in the November course organized sessions on the law of armed conflict for over 360 officers and non-commissioned officers.
Sudan has been racked by more than 15 years of bitter civil war and the ICRC has always attached great importance to promoting knowledge of the law of war among combatants on all sides.
Further information: Laurent Dufour, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++249 11 47 64 64
COLOMBIA AID TO VICTIMS OF FIGHTING IN THE NORTH
In the past few weeks ICRC delegates and members of the Colombian Red Cross have been assisting people affected by an upsurge in violence between self-defence groups and guerrilla forces in areas controlled by the guerrillas in the northern Colombian departments of Cesar and Magdalena.
In Magdalena, the districts of El Banco, Playon de Orozco and El Pi-on have been the scene of armed attacks by self-defence groups, as has Santa Isabel (Curumani district) in Cesar. These attacks have resulted in a large number of deaths, driven hundreds of people from their homes and caused widespread destruction; many houses have been torched.
So far, ICRC delegates have distributed food and provided medical care for nearly 2,400people, while furnishing financial assistance to those who, fearing for their safety, wish to leave for other parts of the country.
Further information: Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++41 22 730 2224
During the weekend of 30 - 31 January 1999, for all information please call the press officer on duty Suzanne Berger, on (mobile) 41 79 202 36 70