ICRC emergency medical supplies have been donated to the Gisenyi hospital in north-western Rwanda to help treat people injured in an attack late last week on a nearby refugee camp.

RWANDA

ICRC MEDICAL SUPPLIES FOR ATTACKED REFUGEES

ICRC emergency medical supplies have been donated to the Gisenyi hospital in north-western Rwanda to help treat people injured in an attack late last week on a nearby refugee camp.

Official reports state that over 130 people were killed and at least as many wounded. The Mudende camp, near the town of Gisenyi, housed thousands of people who had fled fighting in the Masisi region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

During the weekend, the ICRC delivered dressing kits for five hundred people and 2,000 litres of IV fluids, as well as IV kits, material and medication to treat burns and cuts, painkillers, antibiotics, antimalarial medication and sterilized and non-sterilized gloves.

Local ICRC employees visited the hospital in Gisenyi on 23 August and saw that supplies to care for the wounded were inadequate. Authorization to donate the material was obtained the same day and, because the ICRC maintains emergency stocks throughout the country, delivery was completed within 24 hours.

"It's part of our mandate to be ready to help victims of conflict," said Dominique Dufour, head of the ICRC delegation in Rwanda. "We hope these supplies will partly alleviate the suffering of these people."

Further information: Bernard Barrett, ICRC Kigali, tel. ++250 77 344