Update No. 96/4 on ICRC activities in the former Yugoslavia
23-02-1996 Operational Update
Special issue on relief
General situation
Despite all peace efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the winter conditions have aggravated the plight of the displaced people and social cases, who lack sufficient food and clothing. In the Republika Srpska the food situation has not improved since last year, and only few international organizations or NGOs are actively involved on that territory. Nonetheless the international community has lately shown some interest in providing more help to that part of Bosnia. In central Bosnia the food situation has improved, as the free access to the territory stipulated in the Dayton accord allowed increased supplies to reach the main cities, either in humanitarian or in private convoys; the prices have thus steadily decreased. Furthermore, as security conditions have improved, a large number of NGOs have now opened offices in order to engage in rehabilitation programmes.
ICRC activities
The ICRC has continued to implement its winter programmes and has constantly assessed the situation on all sides, in order to respond to urgent needs. Relief stocks (food parcels, hygienic kits, blankets, plastic sheeting, ...) are kept in 12 warehouses in the area so as to be able, with the support of the local Red Cross organizations, to give assistance to displaced people whenever immediate delivery is needed.
In addition, the Red Cross Societies of several countries, in cooperation with the local Red Cross structures, are running community kitchens and programmes aimed at supplying food and other assistance to people particularly hard hit by the shortages.
As winter draws to a close, the circumstances of the population are still such that humanitarian help will probably be needed for much longer than was estimated in late 1995, i.e. until reconstruction efforts provide enough resources to make a phasing-out possible.
The ICRC will constantly reassess the nature of needs in order to adapt its relief policy accordingly.
A) On the territory of the Republika Srpska
Winter programme for 150,000 displaced people
The ICRC delegation in Pale was kept busy until the end of 1995 seeing to the needs of more than 150,000 displaced persons from western Bosnia who left their homes last autumn and are now housed in the Banja Luka region. Furthermore, over the past few weeks an increasing number of inhabitants of Serb suburbs of Sarajevo started moving out along the main roads to Visegrad, Sokolac, Gacko and Trebinje; they found shelter either with relatives or in partially destroyed houses. In January the ICRC started a winter programme. Deliveries are continuing and are planned to last until early March, so as to provide a targeted number of 150,000 beneficiaries with aid items such as individual parcels, stoves, plastic sheeting, jerrycans, kitchen sets, shoes, clothing, baby sets and blankets.
The ICRC delegation in Belgrade continues to be the main logistical base for ICRC activities in the Republika Srpska ensuring that supplies needed for all relief, water/sanitation and medical programmes reach their destinations.
B) On the territory of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina
Winter programme
The delegation in Sarajevo implemented a large-scale winter programme in central Bosnia, targeting displaced people, elderly people and social cases not assisted by other organizations: 31,500 pairs of shoes, 29,500 winter jackets and 5,000 sets of thermal underwear were distributed in Bihac, Gorazde, Mostar, Sarajevo, Tuzla and Zenica.
Support to social welfare institutions
In Sarajevo, 10 social welfare institutions (with a total of 1,000 elderly, mentally ill or mentally handicapped people) on both sides of the boundary line benefited from a programme to supply individual food parcels and hygienic kits.
Relief supplies in Gorazde
In Gorazde, the ICRC started a 5-month assistance programme last December for 2,500 beneficiaries (elderly people living alone) who will be given food parcels and hygienic kits every month through the local Red Cross organization, as well as candles, since electricity has not yet been restored in the area.
Community kitchen in Bihac
The ICRC has been running a community kitchen in Bihac, which has provided one hot meal per day to 2,000 beneficiaries. This programme will be handed over to the Swedish Red Cross by February 1996.
In addition, the ICRC continued to respond to urgent cases of need by making small ad hoc di stributions of clothes, food parcels and hygienic kits.
C) In Croatia
Sectors South and North
Joint community kitchen programmes with the Danish Red Cross (8,000 beneficiaries) and Swedish Red Cross (12,000 beneficiaries), in cooperation with the Croatian Red Cross, were started in the former Sectors South and North in December 1995 and are still going on . As of 1 January 1996, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has taken over responsibility from the ICRC for the logistical coordination of relief in this area.
Eastern Slavonia
ICRC relief delegates continue to distribute limited amounts of food and other items to the most vulnerable people, through the local Red Cross branches.
Joint ICRC/Participating National Societies programmes
To complement the ICRC programmes, 6 National Red Cross Societies are carrying out assistance programmes in the area, in cooperation with the ICRC:
- The American Red Cross in Zenica
The American Red Cross programme started last November; it aims at distributing a total of 7,000 MT of food to 60,000 elderly people and some handicapped children over a period of 9 months. Food portions (wheat flour, pulses and oil) are delivered to the local Red Cross organization in 28 municipalities in and a round Zenica, either for individuals or for community kitchens. One such kitchen able to feed 1,000 people was recently opened in Zavidovici. By the end of January, almost 3,000 MT of food had been distributed.
- ICRC/ Austrian Red Cross community kitchen programme
Community kitchens in the Banja Luka region have started to prepare one warm meal a day for 20,000 refugees and other needy people accommodated in 20 municipalities, thanks to cooperation between the ICRC, the Austrian Red Cross (main donor) and the local Red Cross organization.
- ICRC/Austrian Red Cross agro-programme
The Austrian Red Cross is contributing substantially to the ICRC agro-programme for 1996 (see below) by making available the total amount of seed potatoes required, as well as half of the vegetable seed kits, and transporting them to the distribution point.
- The British Red Cross in Vukovar
In mid-January the British Red Cross started distributing 12,500 individual food parcels to needy people. It will continue these distributions once a month until April 1996.
- The German Red Cross in Sarajevo
The German Red Cross is still running two programmes on both sides of the boundary line in the Sarajevo u rban area:
1. the school programme is providing 47,200 children in 73 primary schools with milk and a sandwich once a day: 115 MT of food was distributed in December 1995 / January 1996;
2. the community kitchen programme provides 10,000 beneficiaries with a warm meal daily in 14 kitchens troughout the city: 697 MT of food was distributed in December 1995 / January 1996. Two mobile kitchens were donated to local Red Cross branches on either side of the line, one in Vogosca and one in the city's Central municipality, to provide warm meals for 600 people in the event of emergencies.
- The German Red Cross in Eastern Bosnia
The German Red Cross has started a community kitchen ( 3,500 beneficiaries ) and school (1,500 beneficiaries) programme in the Pale and Trebinje region.
- The Netherlands Red Cross in Banja Luka
The Netherlands Red Cross programme in Banja Luka is aimed at distributing 30,000 hygiene kits to the most needy babies under 12 months'old, for a period covering Decem ber 1995 to May 1996.
- The Swiss Red Cross in Tuzla
The Swiss Red Cross programme is twofold: both food aid, in the form of food parcels (pre-cooked meals, chocolate, cheese), and social welfare care for 7,000 elderly people living alone in the 14 municipalities of the Tuzla area. Local Red Cross volunteers distribute the food parcels while caring for the beneficiaries. The first distribution started in January.
There are also other joint programmes in the field of water and sanitation, medical assistance and rehabilitation.
The ICRC's 1996 Agro-Programme
Since 1993 the ICRC has been implementing a large-scale agricultural programme each year in the former Yugoslavia, and extensive monitoring has systematically taken place to evaluate the impact of such programmes (last year some 300 interviews were conducted). The political situation has now changed in Bosnia, bringing new prospects of rehabilitation. A first meeting on reconstruction was held in Brussels last December, when donors pledged, inter alia , 36 million US dollars for agriculture for the first three months of 1996. However, it appears that such efforts will not take effect in time for this year's sowing season, and the ICRC has therefore decided to distribute seed once again in early 1996.
An ICRC agronomist conducted a survey in the area in mid-January; on the basis of his assessment and the experience gained over the past few years, the ICRC plans to implement the following seed distribution programme, which is intended to complement the activities of other aid organizations focusin g on the territory of central Bosnia:
It is planned to distribute a total of 200,000 vegetable seed kits, 1,400 MT seed potatoes, 500,000 sq.m plastic sheeting (for greenhouses) and 100,000 preserving kits (salt, vinegar and sugar) in the following areas:
- in Croatia: the former Sectors South and North and in eastern Slavonia;
- in Bosnia-Herzegovina: the Republika Srpska and some municipalities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Gorazde, Bihac, Tuzla, Zenica, Glamoc and Dvar).
Logistics
Total warehouse space : 18,310 sq. m in 12 locations
Total heavy transport : 107 trucks and 38 trailers in 14 locations
Expatriate personnel
1 relief coordinator
1 deputy relief coordinator
2 relief delegates
9 relief administrators
9 relief drivers
1 logistician
Local personnel
20 field officers
12 warehouse managers
40 drivers
70 workers