Regional coordination

In 1996, the regional delegation in Nairobi continued to act as a coordinating centre for specialized and support services for other ICRC operations in the region, particularly in Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, the Sudan and Zaire. Throughout the year, specialists based in Nairobi offered other delegations their services in many fields: agricultural, veterinary and nutritional expertise, water supply and sanitation, tracing, logistics and airborne operations, supply and management of emergency stocks, administration of a regional technical workshop, means of transport, administrative support, assistance to staff, dissemination of humanitarian law to the armed forces and other bearers of weapons, relations with the media and promotion of the ICRC's activities in the neighbouring countries.

Besides providing services for other delegations and engaging in long-term activities to promote knowledge of humanitarian law and cooperation with the National Societies of the region, the delegation was particularly concerned with the growing tension in northern Uganda and, to a lesser extent, the situation of Rwandan refugees in Tanzania, displaced persons in the Rift Valley in Kenya and detainees in Djibouti.

For Uganda, 1996 was a year of contrasts. In May, the presidential elections - the first to be held for 16 years - brought a landslide victory for President Museveni. As in previous years, the country's economy continued to expand, with particularly high GNP growth rates.

Tensions on the rise in Uganda

Conversely, the security situation deteriorated in the north and north-west of the country: the armed opposition movements - the LRA* and WNBF* - which had already made themselves felt in 1995, intensified their guerrilla activities, and the government strengthened its military presence there. Then in October the conflict in eastern Zaire began to have repercussions in Uganda and several clashes took place along the border between the two countries, in the Kasese region.

The civilian population, particularly people living in the rural areas, was hardest hit by this situation. The renewed insecurity disrupted farming and economic activities, restricted access to public services, especially medical care, and tore society apart. In some parts of the country, particularly around Koboko and Gulu, increasingly large groups of civilians terrified by the many acts of violence perpetrated against them fled to places deemed to be safer. In other cases the rural population, afraid of spending the night in isolated places, gathered in nearby villages or urban centres at nightfall. In the second half of the year, the Ugandan army forcibly assembled civilians in protected villages in order to remove them from the influence of the guerrillas.

Protection and assistance for civilians

The ICRC did its utmost to provide assistance and protection to the victims of the events. However, the conduct of operations in the unsettled northern and north-western regions was seriously hampered by the perilous conditions there; several humanitarian organizations - including the ICRC - suffered from security incidents during the year. In June, the Federation and the Uganda Red Cross Society, which were working in the north of the country in aid of Sudanese refugees, withdrew their staff from Koboko after a rebel attack on the town during which a Uganda Red Cross volunteer was killed. In these circumstances, the ICRC maintained regular contact throughout the year with the Ugandan civil and military authorities in order to promote respect for the basic rules of humanitarian law and to obtain guarantees for the safety of its staff; posters and brochures destined for bearers of weapons were also produced. For the same purpose the ICRC tried to establish regular contact with LRA and WNBF representatives, but only a tentative dialogue had begun with the LRA by the end of the year.
From July on, the ICRC regularly distributed food and essential items to displaced people who had gathered in camps in Koboko. Food and material assistance were also distributed as needed to displaced people in the Kasese and Gulu regions. These activities were carried out in cooperation with the Uganda Red Cross Society. The ICRC also visited persons arrested for security reasons and held by the army and the police in unsettled regions and in Kampala. Furthermore, it continued its support for the tracing activities of the Uganda Red Cross Society and its work to spread knowledge of humanitarian law; in view of the calmer situation prevailing in Uganda at the time, the ICRC had handed over responsibility for these activities to the National Society in October 1993.

In Tanzania, tracing activities for Rwandan refugees along the western border (forwarding of Red Cross messages and registration of unaccompanied children) constituted the ICRC's main task there in 1996, until most of them returned to Rwanda in December. These activities were carried out in cooperation with the Tanzania Red Cross National Society.


In 1996 the ICRC:

- visited 195 persons detained for security reasons in 5 places of detention in Uganda;

- visited 4 persons in May and 5 in September held in Djibouti for security reasons.

- continued its support for tracing activities in the Great Lakes region in connection with the Rwandan crisis and ran a very large data bank containing details of over 350,000 people (unaccompanied minors, parents seeking their lost children, persons detained in Rwanda);

- facilitated the restoration and maintenance of contact between Rwandan refugees and their families, either between the various camps in Tanzania, or between Tanzania and Rwanda, or between Tanzania and other countries, by means of Red Cross messages (for total figures, see Rwanda);

- coordinated a vast programme for the registration of unaccompanied Rwandan minors among the Rwandan refugees in Tanzania, with the aim of eventually reuniting them with their families; this programme was conducted jointly with Save the Children Fund-UK, UNHCR and UNICEF (for total figures, see Rwanda).


- bought some 3,700 tonnes of food locally and sent a total of over 7,500 tonnes of food and various relief supplies for ICRC operations in Burundi (580 tonnes), Rwanda (5,700 tonnes), Somalia (125 tonnes), the Sudan (360 tonnes) and Zaire (780 tonnes), as well as medicines and other medical supplies worth Sfr 4 million for ICRC operations in Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia and the Sudan;

- distributed 565 tonnes of food, 58 tonnes of seed and various essentials to people displaced by the conflict in the north, north-west and south-west of Uganda;

- provided material assistance, in cooperation with the Kenya Red Cross Society, to people in the Rift Valley displaced as the result of political violence in previous years.


- sank and equipped 3 boreholes to give displaced families in the Rift Valley (Kenya) improved access to drinking water.


- continued its cooperation programmes with the National Societies of the region, concentrating according to needs and to a varying extent on structural development, training of staff and volunteers, support for activities to spread knowledge of humanitarian law and/or on strengthening the various National Societies' emergency response capacities;

- helped to improve cooperation among the National Societies of the region and, to this end, organized 2 seminars for their senior officials.


- organized information sessions on humanitarian law and produced a radio programme for Rwandan refugees living in camps in western Tanzania;

- supported the Kenyan armed forces in their humanitarian law training programmes and organized many such courses and briefings for the police forces.


Notes:

* LRA: Lord's Resistance Army

* WNBF: West Nile Bank Front