ICRC Audio-Visual News

Dear colleagues,

Here is the dopesheet of the 2'49 minutes item on a distribution in Southern Somalia to be transmitted by Reuters "Africa Daily Feed" today, Thursday 29th March 2007 at 1300 GMT and again at 17:05 GMT.

You will find the dopesheet hereunder and technical details.

Best Regards,

Virginie Louis
E-MAIL vlouis.gva@icrc.org
Audiovisual News Producer, Media Service
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
19 Avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva
Switzerland
http://www.icrc.org/eng/films-field
http://www.icrc.org/fre/films-terrain
Direct line ++41 22 730 25 11
Mobile ++ 41 79 251 93 14


For broadcast tapes and information on footage: Virginie Louis, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva,

For distribution on March 27th 2007

Title: Somalia: ICRC assists displaced families in Afmadow
Date & location: Afmadow town, Lower Juba region, Somalia, 25 March 2007
Natural with Somali speech
Duration: 2'49''
Produced and realized by: Pedram Yazdi and Nicole Engelbrecht
Source: ICRC – Access all
For broadcast tapes and information on footage:
Nicole Engelbrecht, Regional Media Relations Delegate, ICRC Nairobi: + 254 -722- 51 27 28

Shows:

Afmadow town, Lower Juba, Somalia (25 March 2007)

00:00 unloading truck in Afmadow, Somalia
00:06 Red Crescent volunteers preparing distribution and families waiting
00:12 close up kid
00:16 close up assistance included in one kit: plastic sheets, kitchen utensils, blankets and clothes
00:21 close up children
00:25 Red Crescent volunteers distributing assistance
00:31 children receiving clothes
00:35 women and children waiting
00:38 Red Crescent volunteers distributing assistance
00:53 various shots of armed man at the distribution site
01:07 Red Crescent volunteers distributing assistance
01:12 children trying on clothes


01:19 (Soundbite – 17") (Somali) woman Kaltuma Adan Subo saying

"We fled the fighting in Mogadishu. We came here to find refuge. As you see, we do not have anything, no shelter and nothing to sleep on. I did not receive anything, now I am hoping for assistance."

01:37 Kaltuma Adan receiving ICRC assistance
01:43 Kaltuma Adan entering her hut
01:48 her children trying on clothes inside the hut
01:45 close up of women and children waiting

02:06 (Soundbite: 27") (Somali) man Aden Santur Abdi saying

"I fled the fighting. We were bombed day and night. I have never heard such a sound in my life before. They were flying low, nobody was spared, people were killed and much of our livestock died or ran away."

02:34 (Soundbite: 12 ") (Somali) man Barre Omar Afi saying

"I am hungry and I am blind. I fled the bombings, our people and livestock were burned alive. We were already hungry before that happened and now it is worse."

02:46 end


Story Line:

Military operations in Somalia including air strikes at the beginning of the year in the South of the country (Lower Juba) and armed clashes in Mogadishu have resulted in a high number of casualties since January. Hundreds of people lost their lives all over the country, over one thousand five hundred were wounded and thousands of civilians have been displaced from their homes in search of shelter and security.

Since March 12th, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in collaboration with the Somali Red Crescent is assisting over 135.000 displaced persons in several regions (Bakool, Baidoa, Lower and Middle Juba and Mudug). In Afmadow (Lower Juba) alone, the ICRC is distributing non-food items to almost 20.000 people. The assistance includes sheltering materials such as plastic sheets, kitchen utensils, blankets, mats, jerry cans and clothes.

Afmadow town is on the road to the Kenyan border and attracted a high number of displaced people who were trying to leave the country after the outbreak of hostilities in December. As the border was closed, they settled in Afmadow town like Kaltuma Adan Subo from Mogadishu.

"We fled the fighting in Mogadishu. We came here to find refuge. As you see, we do not have anything, no shelter and nothing to sleep on. I did not receive anything, now I am hoping for assistance."

Aden Santur Abdi fled his home in Jira after the air strikes hit the region:

"I fled the fighting. We were bombed day and night. I have never heard such a sound in my life before. They were flying low, nobody was spared, people were killed and much of our livestock died or ran away."

Barre Omar Afi tells a similar story:

"I am hungry and I am blind. I fled the bombings, our people and livestock were burned alive. We were already hungry before that happened and now it is worse."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the plight of civilians caught up in the fighting and calls on all warring parties to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, and to take constant care in the conduct of military operations to safeguard the lives and dignity of the civilian population.

The ICRC has been in Somalia since 1977 and is one of the few humanitarian organizations still working in the country. It provides more than 500,000 displaced people with aid each year, runs over 300 water, health and agricultural projects and helps bring children who have been separated from their parents by the conflict back together with their families.

In central and southern Somalia, the ICRC provides medical facilities, including the three hospitals in Mogadishu and 23 clinics run by the Somali Red Crescent Society, with surgical equipment, medicines and training for doctors and nurses.


Contacts: