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FRICA: 35 MILLION SWISS FRANCS FOR .CTION IN TWELVE COUNTRIES IN CONFLICT
At the beginning of June the ICRC made a new appeal to governments and the National Red Cross Societies in order to obtain the financial and material support required for the continuation of its protection and assistance work for the victims of the con- flicts in Africa. This appeal is for 35.8 million Swiss francs, planned to cover the period from 1 June to 31 December 1979 commitment of some 5 million Swiss francs a
month.
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The ICRC is now working in a dozen countries directly involved in a conflict or experienc- ing resultant humanitarian problems. Every day some 90 delegates - 15 of whom have been seconded from National Societies bring moral and material aid to the conflict victims, visiting the prisoners, caring for the wounded, providing food for the civilian population, tracing missing persons and re- uniting families.
ACTIVITIES IN ZIMBABWE/RHODESIA SIX MONTHS OF FIGURES
From November 1978 to May 1979, the ICRC delegation in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia undertook a considerable volume of protection and assistance activities.
Each month, relief food, clothing and blankets to a total value of over a million Swiss francs was distributed to 50,000 people.
The ICRC continued to run 24 clinics and dispensaries, mainly in the north and east of the country. Its medical teams gave some 3,000 monthly consultations in the hospitals and vaccinated about ten thousand children against measles, diphtheria and polio- myelitis. The ICRC also supplied medicines and medical equipment to 34 mission hospitals and rural dispensaries, to a total value of 183,000 Swiss francs.
The Tracing Agency compiled a file of 8,600 cards containing information on detained or missing persons, to facilitate replies to requests for news.
IN BRIEF.
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New ICRC office in Gwelo: In order to give better coverage in the Midlands, the ICRC has decided to open a permanent office in the town of Gwelo, some 200 km south-west of Salisbury.
UGANDA AND TANZANIA: PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE WORK CONTINUES
The ICRC team which arrived in Kampala in May (see ICRC Bulletin No. 41, 6.6.79) continued its protection and assistance work for conflict victims in June.
Between 11 and 17 June over 3,600 prisoners in three places of detention in the Ugandan capital were visited. Visits to prisons in other parts of the country are being prepared. Relief goods blankets, mattresses, soap and food - have been given to the prison administration for distribution to the detainees.
The ICRC has also continued to supply hospitals and dispensaries with medicines and medical equipment. A new evaluation round in, the provinces is to be made in the next few days.
On 2 June, an ICRC delegate began prison visits in Tanzania. A doctor joined him on 7 June, and they went to several prisons and a military camp. They also visited two hospitals, where they saw 233 wounded people, and the camp for displaced persons in Omupweya, pronding shelter for 670 people, half of whom are children. Relief supplies were purchased in Tanzania for distribution to the prisoners and civilians visited by the delegate.
NICARAGUA: RED CROSS RELIEF PLANE AND APPEAL TO THE PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT
In June, the ICRC, in conjunction with the American Red Cross, organized flights to take food supplies and medicines from Miami to Managua. During the second half of June, half a dozen flights carried a total of 80 tons of relief. An aeroplane belonging to the Spanish army, which had been chartered by the Spanish Government to evacuate civilians from the Nicaraguan capital to San José in Costa Rica, took on board 24 tons of food for the ICRC in four of its flights to Managua. The Natio- nal Red Cross Society has 36 distribution points in Managua, where every day approxi- mately 50,000 displaced persons go for food.
Although visits to places of detention have had to be suspended in connection with the situation, at the request of the authorities, the ICRC has launched a special relief oper- ation for the detainees held in the "Central de policia" prison. The fighting has prevented families from taking food to their detained relatives as they did previously.
At the beginning of June, the XIth Inter- American Red Cross Conference, in which 22