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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: ICRC REOPENS OFFICE IN BUNIA: On 13 October the ICRC reopened its office in Bunia, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The office, which is situated in the district of Ituri, near the Ugandan border, had been closed since August 1998.
EAST TIMOR: FIRST HELICOPTER-ASSISTED RELIEF DISTRIBUTION: The ICRC has begun its emergency relief distributions to isolated villages in the mountains of East Timor. On 26 October an ICRC-chartered helicopter flew 12.5 tonnes of food and other items from the town of Aileu to the village of Hato Builico, which lies at an altitude of 2,000 metres in the central district of Ainaro.
EAST TIMOR: ICRC COLLECTS 10,000 MESSAGES FROM SEPARATED RELATIVES: "I am in good health", read the printed cards, on which senders write down their own names and list any family members who are with them. The message is brief and simple, but for people who lost touch with their relatives during the events that took place in East Timor in early September, these cards are of the utmost importance.
COLOMBIA: WOUNDED POLICEMEN HANDED OVER TO ICRC: On Saturday 23 October the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), the principal guerrilla group in the country, handed over two policemen wounded in an armed incident to ICRC delegates and Colombian Red Cross volunteers.
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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO ICRC REOPENS OFFICE IN BUNIA
On 13 October the ICRC reopened its office in Bunia, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The office, which is situated in the district of Ituri, near the Ugandan border, had been closed since August 1998. The ICRC returned to the area following the recent outbreak of interethnic violence between the Hema and the Lendu.
According to local sources, the fighting has claimed thousands of lives and many villages have been destroyed since July. The ICRC and MSF-Holland estimate that 100,000 to 150,000 people have fled their homes, and several thousand have found refuge in Bunia. The ICRC, which already distributed food and supplies to 5,750 people earlier this month, plans to assist 25,000 people in the coming weeks.
Two delegates are currently on the spot to assess the needs of the displaced and start up protection activities. They have thus visited people detained in connection with the conflict. Earlier this week an ICRC team travelled to Rethy, where other displaced people were reportedly sheltering in camps. New distributions for 3,500 people are under way.
Further information: Juan Martinez, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 22 81
EAST TIMOR FIRST HELICOPTER-ASSISTED RELIEF DISTRIBUTION
The ICRC has begun its emergency relief distributions to isolated villages in the mountains of East Timor. On 26 October an ICRC-chartered helicopter flew 12.5 tonnes of food and other items from the town of Aileu to the village of Hato Builico, which lies at an altitude of 2,000 metres in the central district of Ainaro. The operation required 15 helicopter rotations at a pace of three rotations per hour. The supplies were distributed to some 1,000 persons (200 families) in Hato Builico, which has a total of 3,286 inhabitants.
Although initial nutritional assessments have not revealed any cases of starvation, there is an urgent need for food in East Timor, where the chronic shortages that occur during the rainy season have been exacerbated by the recent violence. The food items being distributed are rice, pulses, oil, sugar, salt and high-protein biscuits. This is being supplemented with essential supplies such as cooking pots, jerrycans, soap, plastic basins, sarongs, candles, tarpaulins and blankets.
In Hato Builico, the schoolteacher was recently appointed head of the village. He said that the former rulers of East Timor only allowed the villagers to cultivate enough land to feed themselves, for fear that any excess food would go to the guerillas hiding in the mountains. Since the village has no reserves, it has been hard hit by the recent violence and people have been eating up their seed supplies. The ICRC will return to the village as soon as its shipment of seed and tools has arrived in Dili harbour.
The villages chosen for this helicopter-assisted relief operation are particularly difficult to reach since mountain roads have either collapsed or are too narrow for ICRC trucks. Even if the roads were wider, they would not be able to withstand the load and would require maintenance and repairs which, in the absence of civilian authorities, cannot be provided at this time in East Timor. "The only other solution would have been by horseback, but that would have taken months", said Gian Luca Thorimbert, ICRC relief delegate, as he watched the supplies being flown in under the helicopter in large nets.
Further information: Michael Kleiner, ICRC Dili, tel. ++62 390 321 448; satellite tel. ++872 76 184 42 95 / ++872 76 184 39 55
EAST TIMOR ICRC COLLECTS 10,000 MESSAGES FROM SEPARATED RELATIVES
"I am in good health", read the printed cards, on which senders write down their own names and list any family members who are with them. The message is brief and simple, but for people who lost touch with their relatives during the events that took place in East Timor in early September, these cards are of the utmost importance.
As of late October, over 10,000 cards have been collected from people trying to contact their relatives. "As word spreads on both sides of the island, more and more people are making use of them", said Francisco Otero, who coordinates ICRC tracing activities in Indonesia. "Last week alone we collected over 2,500 cards, both from East Timor and from the western half of the island," he adds.
The cards are collected and distributed by the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross. Lists of people to whom cards have been sent are posted at ICRC and Red Cross offices, in camps for displaced persons and in public places. Using the return address on the cards, the recipients can easily send a reply and keep in contact.
These cards are not the only means used by the ICRC to help people get back in touch with their relatives. A satellite telephone is available in the ICRC office in Dili and over 850 calls have been made by East Timor residents to family members on other islands in Indonesia or overseas, in countries such as Portugal and Australia.
Once contact has been restored, the ICRC may be asked to reunite families living on different sides of the East Timor border. Close to 150 people have benefited from this service since early September, with the ICRC carrying relatives from West Timor to East Timor or in the opposite direction, according to the family's wishes.
A particularly tragic aspect of such situations is the plight of young children who suddenly find themselves alone, not knowing what has become of their families. The ICRC is coordinating the registration of all unaccompanied children in Timor. A total of 96 children have been registered to date.
"So far we have managed to reunite five children with their families," said Francisco Otero. "But half the registrations and all the reunions took place last week, so we expect these numbers to increase as our resources develop and our service becomes more widely known to the people concerned."
Further information: Bernard Barrett or Sri R. Wahyu Endah, ICRC Jakarta, tel. ++ 62 21 720 72 52
COLOMBIA WOUNDED POLICEMEN HANDED OVER TO ICRC
On Saturday 23 October the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), the principal guerrilla group in the country, handed over two policemen wounded in an armed incident to ICRC delegates and Colombian Red Cross volunteers. The two men, who had been given first aid by their captors, were evacuated to medical facilities after their condition had been assessed by the Red Cross team. The handover took place in Santander de Quilichao, in the southern department of Cauca.
This operation was an important sign of respect for international humanitarian law in a country like Colombia, where organizations such as the ICRC strive on a daily basis to ensure that those bearing weapons show greater compliance with the humanitarian rules.
Further information: Corinne Adam, ICRC, Geneva, tel.: ++4122 730 22 24
During the weekend of 30 - 31 October 1999, for all information please call the spokes man on duty Urs Boegli , on (mobile) 41 79 203 94 05