Following the launching of a rebel front
in the west, an ICRC team based in Man has received the necessary security
guarantees and has carried out an initial evaluation in Danané, a town
on the Liberian border. The ICRC also provided medical supplies, facilitating
the work of volunteers from the Red Cross Society of Côte d'Ivoire and
of medical personnel at the hospital.
In Daloa, the local Red Cross mobile
clinic has treated more than 1,200 displaced persons living in various
places near the front line, such as Bonoufla and Zahibo. To improve hygiene
and access to drinking water for these displaced persons, the Red Cross
has disinfected some 50 wells and built six toilet/shower blocks, each
of which has its own septic tank.
Near the south-west front, two Red Cross transit centres, at Tabou and San Pedro, are taking in displaced persons from the areas where fighting is going on. The Red Cross is providing 500 hot meals a day, and is organizing transport for those who wish to join their families or relatives in other parts of the country.
The ICRC has obtained authorization to visit all places of detention under the responsibility of the ministries of defence, justice, and the interior. The purpose of such visits is to ensure that the general conditions of detention are such as to guarantee the physical well-being of detainees at all stages of their detention.
Further information: Simon Pl=FCss, ICRC Abidjan, tel.: ++225 224 000 70