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INDONESIA: AID TO SOME 18,000 internally displaced: Following sectarian riots on Ambon, one of the Moluccan islands, the Indonesian Red Cross Society has, with ICRC support, come to the aid of more than 17,500 internally displaced people in the last month.
SUDAN: ICRC COURSE AT INFANTRY SCHOOL: Officers and men of the Sudanese army have attended a series of presentations on the basics of the law of armed conflict. These were prepared by the ICRC and the Sudanese Red Crescent and held from 8 to 13 April.
ICRC / ROTARY: UNPRECEDENTED ROTARY APPEAL: Rotary International this week launched an unprecedented appeal to 29,000 clubs in 160 countries to donate money for immediate assistance -- through the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement -- to the victims of the crisis in the Balkans.
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INDONESIA AID TO SOME 18,000 internally displaced
Following sectarian riots on Ambon, one of the Moluccan islands, the Indonesian Red Cross Society has, with ICRC support, come to the aid of more than 17,500 internally displaced people in the last month.
Representatives of the Red Cross Society together with ICRC delegates are monitoring the food and medical situation in the 10 camps where people have gathered. They have provided them with rice, beans, oil, salt, high-energy biscuits, mats, soap, household utensils and school necessities. With a view to strengthening the image of the Red Cross as an organization that takes impartial action, the team has also held sessions to explain the Movement's work and its principles to the various communities.
The riots on Ambon first erupted in January. Hundreds of lives were lost and many houses burned. At the beginning of April, two other islands in the Moluccas archipelago - Tual and Tanimbar - suffered similar violence.
Further information: Endah Sri R. Wahyu, ICRC Jakarta, tel. ++ 6221 720 72 52 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 4122 730 2224
SUDAN ICRC COURSE AT INFANTRY SCHOOL
Officers and men of the Sudanese army have attended a series of presentations on the basics of the law of armed conflict. These were prepared by the ICRC and the Sudanese Red Crescent and held from 8 to 13 April.
In all, 28 officers from a range of training units, 80 company commanders and 210 non-commissioned officers attended the courses at the infantry school located in Jebeid, a garrison town founded more than 70 years ago by the Italians as a support base for their war in Ethiopia. Most sessions were conducted by a retired Sudanese military judge and a retired German army colonel, both members of the ICRC's pool of training officers.
Meanwhile, commanders of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army in the Upper Nile and Bahr el Gazal regions are attending a similar course this week in Tonj. In November of last year, a three-day course in humanitarian law was held for 27 senior officers at the Command and Staff College in Khartoum. Similar courses are planned in April and early May for the Southern Sudan Defence Forces (allied with the government of Sudan).
Further information: Laurent Dufour, ICRC Khartoum, tel. ++249 11 476 464
ICRC / ROTARY UNPRECEDENTED ROTARY APPEAL
Rotary International this week launched an unprecedented appeal to 29,000 clubs in 160 countries to donate money for immediate assistance - through the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - to the victims of the crisis in the Balkans. A special fund with an initial contribution from the Rotary Foundation of 500,000 US dollars has already been set up.
Rotary has been involved in humanitarian endeavour in the region for some years. In response to the Bosnian crisis, clubs donated some six million dollars in cash plus supplies which were distributed through their own channels. "Given the magnitude of this crisis, it makes sense to join with the International Red Cross since they are well equipped to meet immediate needs in this region", said Rotary International President James Lacy. "It is Rotary's hope that this rapid response will secure the future of thousands of people, children as well as their parents".
ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga welcomed Rotary's decision. "This initiative is not only a sign of Rotary's strength and its commitment to people in need all over the world, it is also a source of encouragement for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in its daily work in the field."
The Movement has staged a major operation in Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A total of 120 expatriate staff assisted by hundreds of local employees are concentrating their efforts on medical and food assistance but also on enabling people to restore contact with relatives from whom they have been separated. The Red Cross will step up its operations over the coming weeks and the Rotary funds will cover a major part of the needs to be met.
Rotary International groups in Switzerland and Germany have over the past three years been conducting a major fund-raising campaign to help victims of anti-personnel mines. Over 1.5 million dollars has been raised so far to support the ICRC's limb-fitting centre in Battambang, Cambodia and the component factory in Phnom Penh.
With 1.2 million members, Rotary International is one of the world's largest voluntary service organizations and is dedicated to helping people in need.
Further information: Red Cross / Red Crescent operations - www.icrc.org or www.ifrc.org Rotary appeal - Tony Burgener , ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 23 84, or David Alexander , Rotary International, tel. ++ 1 847 866 3245 (see also www.rotary.org)