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BALKANS CRISIS ICRC HELPS REUNITE KOSOVAR MEN WITH THEIR FAMILIES ICRC teams based in Albania are striving to alleviate the anxiety of former detainees who have recently arrived from Kosovo and are desperate to locate and rejoin their families.
COLOMBIA ICRC FORWARDS RED CROSS MESSAGES FOR AVIANCA HOSTAGES On 28 May a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met representatives of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the countryside around San Pablo, in the northern Colombian department of Bolivar.
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BALKANS CRISIS ICRC HELPS REUNITE KOSOVAR MEN WITH THEIR FAMILIES
ICRC teams based in Albania are striving to alleviate the anxiety of former detainees who have recently arrived from Kosovo and are desperate to locate and rejoin their families.
Over 1,000 men who reached the border town of Kukes after being released from detention in Kosovo were given the opportunity to make a satellite call to their relatives and give details about themselves to the ICRC so that its tracing services could reunite them with their families.
Walter Stocker, team leader in Kukes, said the men were considered a priority group by the ICRC: "All of them arrived alone and immediately told us that after the ordeal they had gone through their main need was to rejoin their families. We are doing everything we can to help them." With the information gathered in Kukes, the ICRC in Albania and at headquarters in Geneva can respond to the many enquiries it is receiving from people who wish to know if their relatives are among the men released and if they can be put in touch with them.
Some of the men have already managed to find their families in Kukes. One tracing delegate witnessed the reunion of six men with their families in a refugee camp after following their cases for five weeks. She recalls: "Last week they were very depressed, so it was extremely gratifying to see how relieved they were to know their relatives were alive and to be with them again."
This latest effort is part of an overall ICRC tracing programme in Albania which is using a variety of means to address the urgent problem of families torn apart by the crisis in the Balkans.
Further information: Amanda Williamson, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++ 41 22 730 26 78
COLOMBIA ICRC FORWARDS RED CROSS MESSAGES FOR AVIANCA HOSTAGES
On 28 May a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met representatives of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the countryside around San Pablo, in the northern Colombian department of Bolivar. The ICRC team delivered clothing, medicines and Red Cross messages from relatives of the hostages. The ELN representatives likewise handed over Red Cross messages from the hostages; these were delivered to their families the following day.
The ELN is still holding 25 passengers from the Avianca Fokker aircraft hijacked on 12 April when en route from Bucaramanga to Bogota.
On the basis of reports in various Colombian newspapers that the hostages would be set free on 28 May, a number of hostage families had organized parties to celebrate the supposed release. However, the reports turned out to be mere rumours. The ICRC regrets that competition among the news media led to the publication of unsubstantiated information which was not checked with the ICRC delegation, as this caused suffering among those concerned.
The ICRC is in regular contact with the ELN on the ground and stands ready to arrange the release of those still held hostage.
More information: Carlos Rios, ICRC Bogota, tel. ++571 636 7346 Corinne Adam, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 2224
During the weekend of 5 - 6 June 1999, for all information please call the press officer on duty Suzanne Berger, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 37