Introduction

In 1994 the regional delegation in Nairobi once again provided a range of services for major ICRC operations in the region. Many of the agricultural and water and sanitation programmes implemented in East Africa required backup from Nairobi. The regional delegation also provided logistic support, tracing services, telecommunications, administrative assistance and information and press services for the large-scale operation in Rwanda. For tracing services alone, the delegation in Nairobi hired about 60 employees to work around the clock processing the files for Rwanda. Details concerning some 60,000 people were entered on computer in Nairobi. Activities were also conducted in Tanzania and Uganda for victims of the conflict in Rwanda and of those in Sudan and Somalia (see the relevant chapters).

The regional water and sanitation coordinator worked mainly in connection with the crisis in Rwanda. Several evaluation missions were conducted early in the year from Burundi and Uganda to areas controlled by the two sides; these were followed up with logistic support. The ICRC dispatched chemicals (some 300 tonnes of aluminium sulphate and 50 tonnes of chlorination products) for water treatment from the delegation in Nairobi and from Kampala and Dar es Salaam. Emergency repair equipment was also supplied. In addition, the regional coordinator gave support to the ICRC's water and sanitation activities in Somalia and Sudan.

When an internal armed conflict broke out in Yemen the Nairobi regional delegation helped provide logistic support through the office in Djibouti.

COMOROS
DJIBOUTI
KENYA
MADAGASCAR
TANZANIA
UGANDA

COMOROS

In February the regional delegate was received by the Head of State. During this meeting the ICRC was given authorization to visit people detained in connection with the abortive coup of September 1992 and the military rebellion that followed it. An ICRC delegate and a doctor visited these detainees twice in 1994, in March and June, and a report on the visits was submitted to the authorities in October. At the end of the year there were 33 people still in detention.

DJIBOUTI

In the first three months of the year there were sporadic clashes between government forces and the FRUD (Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy) in the Tadjourah district of northern Djibouti. In January the ICRC, which had requested access to this region in late 1993, was authorized by the government to open an office in Tadjourah and to work in the area. ICRC staff conducted medical and nutritional surveys among the population in the north and monitored the situation of civilians in the region. The office, which remained open until November, helped put the Dorra dispensary back in operation and provided medical supplies to three other dispensaries near Tadjourah. The ICRC was also requested to fit eight soldiers of the government armed forces with prostheses. They were sent for treatment to the orthopaedic workshop in Addis Ababa.

Talks between the government and representatives of the FRUD were held in the last half of 1994, and eventually led to a peace agreement which was signed on 26 December.
In April the ICRC organized a course on humanitarian law for high-ranking officers of the Djibouti armed forces and the police. The four-day seminar, the first of its kind, was held in Djibouti and attended by 45 officers.

The ICRC also continued to visit security detainees held in Gabode prison. During two visits in January and February a total of 10 people were seen. Nine remained in detention at the end of the year.

From June to September the ICRC office in Djibouti served as a logistic base for the operation in Yemen.

KENYA

The situation in Kenya remained relatively calm throughout 1994. For the first time in years no major ethnic clashes were reported, and there was less social tension as the economy began to revive.

The ICRC maintained contact with government representatives, including the Attorney-General and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with the aim of encouraging accession by Kenya to the two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions and the 1980 United Nations Weapons Convention. In August the ICRC and the Kenyan government signed a new headquarters agreement, which made it possible for the regional delegation to expand its infrastructure in Nairobi.

In March an ICRC team, working with the Kenya Red Cross Society, was granted access to Maela and the Rift Valley region in western Kenya, where ethnic violence had caused the displacement of some 200,000 people since it first broke out in 1991. A number of surveys conducted throughout the year revealed that there were generally no emergency needs among the displaced people, except for tracing services. In December, after 2,000 displaced people in Maela had been forcibly relocated by the authorities, the delegation and the National Society distributed soap, vegetable oil and blankets. The ICRC and the Kenya Red Cross also continued to work together in the spheres of tracing (the National Society handled tens of thousands of Red Cross messages for Somali and Sudanese refugees), dissemination of humanitarian law and the Red Cross principles, and first aid.

MADAGASCAR

Following the authorization given to the ICRC to visit security detainees in September 1993, delegates visited 51 people held for security reasons in six places of detention in February 1994 and again at the end of June. A report on the visits was submitted to the authorities in October.

A water and sanitation engineer held a course on fumigation techniques for 49 officers of the prison service in February, and also provided material assistance. In November an ICRC team began an overall survey of conditions of detention of all categories of prisoners in Madagascar, with a view to suggesting improvements.

TANZANIA

The regional delegation sent missions to encourage the government to recognize the competence of the Fact-Finding Commission established pursuant to Article 90 of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions and to accede to the 1980 United Nations Weapons Convention. In April the ICRC opened a sub-delegation in Ngara, Tanzania, close to the Rwandan border, to coordinate its activities in south-eastern Rwanda. The cross-border operation continued to provide support for relief and medical programmes inside Rwanda for six months, and tracing activities relating to unaccompanied children and the exchange of Red Cross messages were still going on at the end of the year. The ICRC worked closely with the Tanzanian Red Cross in making logistic preparations and carrying out tracing work in Ngara (see Rwanda).

In addition, the ICRC and the Kenya Red Cross held a three-part training programme for first-aid workers of the Tanzania Red Cross, and the ICRC organized six dissemination sessions for local branches of the National Society.

UGANDA

Most of Uganda was quite peaceful in 1994. The government concentrated on consolidating democratic institutions by holding elections for a constituent assembly in March.

Nonetheless, in February there was a resumption of the armed rebellion led by the Lord Resistance Army in the regions around Kitgum and Gulu. Throughout the year this internal armed conflict, although limited in scope, resulted in the displacement of hundreds of families, the destruction of property and some loss of life. It also caused the suspension of rehabilitation and development projects in the areas affected.

Apart from monitoring the situation of conflict victims in the north, the ICRC office in Kampala concentrated most of its efforts on the protection of security detainees, tracing activities, the evacuation of war-wounded arriving in northern Uganda from southern Sudan, and the dissemination of humanitarian law and of information on the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The ICRC also kept up its cooperation with the Uganda Red Cross Society in the fields of tracing and dissemination.

The regional delegation opened an office in Kabale, Uganda, in April to cover the logistic requirements of the ICRC operation in northern Rwanda, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people were receiving assistance. The ICRC office in Kampala also maintained contacts with the Rwanda Patriotic Front in Uganda prior to the change of government in Kigali.


Activities for detainees

There was an increase in the number of security detainees visited by the ICRC, chiefly because of arrests linked with the rebellion in the north. Delegates conducted visits to a total of 252 people held in 13 places of detention, including military barracks and government prisons. During these visits the ICRC provided the prison authorities with basic items such as soap, cleaning products, blankets and recreational equipment. Upon their release, security prisoners were each given clothing, a blanket, soap and a hoe.


Tracing activities

The Kampala delegation conducted two missions to Haut-Zaire province in Zaire to visit camps for Sudanese refugees and exchange Red Cross messages. Some 6,400 messages were distributed or collected in the camps. In addition, the tracing office handled about 500 Red Cross messages exchanged between security detainees visited by the ICRC in Uganda and their families. All other tracing activities in Uganda were conducted by the National Society. The ICRC maintained its support for the Uganda Red Cross Society's tracing service, which assisted in the exchange of Red Cross messages for Rwandan and Sudanese refugees in Uganda.


Medical activities

In the first half of the year a large number of war-wounded arrived in northern Uganda from southern Sudan. The ICRC assisted in the transfer of 65 wounded people from Uganda to the ICRC surgical hospital in Lokichokio, Kenya.


Dissemination

The office in Kampala participated in various workshops on humanitarian law organized by the government for civil servants, local officials and members of the military, and also took part in talks held by various non-governmental organizations on related issues. The ICRC continued to provide support for the National Society's dissemination programme.