Afghanistan : nothing can be taken for granted
10 September 2002

One year on from the assassination of Commander Massoud and the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States, we are forced to admit that the situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous despite all the progress that has been made.

The recent, spectacular terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, following the assassination of two Ministers, and coupled with prevailing insecurity and fighting in many provinces are there to remind us that nothing can be taken for granted. As we carry out our humanitarian activities, we are faced with these dangers ourselves and we have had to evacuate the Kamard and Saighan districts in the Bamyan province several times. In addition, our work in the Mazar-i-Shariff area is obstructed on a daily basis. It cannot be said often enough that national unity in Afghanistan is an essential condition for security and reconstruction.

But other dangers could stem from a certain resentment on the part of the Afghan people, which may grow as time goes by. In this fiercely independent county, foreigners are treated as distinguished guests and offered great hospitality. Provided, however, that they themselves respect the customs, way of life and religious beliefs of the local population. Inappropriate behaviour on the part of a few individuals could shock many Afghans and foster rejection.

Above all, the Afghan people has high expectations for humanitarian aid and reconstruction due to the immense needs of the population, together with the commitments made during the Tokyo conference, and finally the massive, visible presence of international organisations, particularly in Kabul. Although much has already been achieved and infrastructure projects take a long time, we have observed resentment here and there among the local population and certain Afghan officials who are still waiting for promised aid to arrive.

At SOLIDARITES, we often encounter obstacles to our humanitarian action. For example, we had planned a programme to assist 11,928 families (around 70,000 people) who had been displaced by drought and fighting, and who were returning to their villages south of Mazar-i-Shariff in the districts of Roy Doab et Dar-i-Suf (Samangan province) and in the districts of Tcharkent, Keshende et Sholgara (Balkh province).

We needed 2863 tons of wheat to meet the immediate needs of these families. We have just learned that the WFP (UN World Food Programme) will not be able to provide this wheat due to the interruption of its supplies since April.

In the same way, the number of refugees returning to Afghanistan in 2002 was severely underestimated at 400,000, when in fact 2 million refugees have returned and require urgent measures to be taken to enable them to survive the winter and for their return home to be successful. This is currently not the case for hundreds of thousands of refugees, in Kabul and elsewhere.

SOLIDARITES is launching an appeal for all vulnerable populations to receive essential humanitarian aid before the winter sets in. Their personal security and participation in the reconstruction of their country is dependent on this.

SOLIDARITES has been present in Afghanistan since 1980. Our team in Afghanistan comprises 25 expatriate volunteers and 400 Afghan employees who carry out numerous humanitarian and reconstruction programmes in several areas of the country.

For further information, please contact Sébastien Le Clézio, Tel : O1 43 15 13 13

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Angola : emergency appeal
19th June 2002

"A humanitarian disaster is threatening millions of Angolans". The dramatic situation observed by humanitarian teams on the ground has been reported today by a national evening paper, pointing out that three million people need emergency relief for survival.

SOLIDARITES, an international humanitarian organisation, has sent a relief team of experienced volunteers to Angola. This team comprises a programmes coordinator, a nutritionist and a logistician. Their mission, together with other volunteers who will soon join them, is to rapidly provide emergency food aid and essential items to displaced persons living in the appalling squalor and destitution of " assembly areas ". They will then set up nutrition programmes for those who are most at risk (children, pregnant and breast-feeding women).

The sheer scale of these displaced population's needs, now that the cease-fire signed on April 5th has allowed us to reach them, requires the rapid mobilisation of all necessary means. Our team in Angola, with whom we are in daily contact, urgently needs the necessary foodstuffs and logistical means to deliver relief, in extremely difficult and perilous conditions, to areas where aid is cruelly absent.

For this reason, we are launching today an urgent appeal to raise essential funds without delay to provide the most rapid and efficient humanitarian aid possible. The lives of countless human beings depend upon this aid.

To support SOLIDARITE'S emergency humanitarian aid in Angola
Please send your donations to : SOLIDARITES Mission Angola - BP 100, 75020 Paris

Press contacts : Alain Boinet, Director Sébastien le Clezio, Communication Manager - 01 43 15 13 13

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Which humanitarian deviations ?
Paris, March 8th, 2002

Following the declarations made by Sylvie Brunel, resigning President of Action Contre la Faim (ACF), and the Libération newspaper's remarks about "Les dérives de l'humanitaire", the international humanitarian organisation SOLIDARITES declares that, from its point of view, humanitarian action is not and will never be " commercial ". Our vocation is to provide aid and meet the vital needs of people whose lives are under threat, in war-torn and extremely poor countries.

However, to achieve this purpose, SOLIDARITES must be efficient, and have access to the necessary human resources, equipment and materials.

Our human resources include expatriate volunteers, salaried staff, and voluntary workers, who are both competent and motivated, and who work along side local staff in the countries where our organisation is active.

The average salaries at SOLIDARITES' Parisian head office are as follows : for the highest three net salaries, 15 000 francs or 2 287 euros per month (12 months per annum), for the managerial staff, 10 800 francs or 1 646 euros on average and for the remaining personnel, 7 600 francs or 1 159 euros.

Concerning the expatriate volunteers, who hold either specialist positions (hydraulic engineer, agronomist, nutritionist…) or management positions (head of mission, administrator, logistician), they receive a monthly indemnity amounting to between 5 000 francs or 762 euros and 6 000 francs or 915 euros. It is important to note that these volunteers work long hours in difficult, often dangerous conditions. The same is true for our headquarters where our salaried staff are far from the 35 hour week !

Our action also requires certain essential equipment and materials : cars, lorries, radios, computers, offices, warehouses, assorted materials, etc., without which our humanitarian assistance would be severely limited.

In 2000 our organisation's budget was 123 million francs or 18.75 million euros, of which 89% was affected to humanitarian aid, 5% to communication and fund-raising, and 6% to our headquarters' running expenses. We would like to make it clear that no head office running expenses are charged to SOLIDARITES' humanitarian aid.

Every year, following our Annual General Meeting, we publish an Annual Report including our annual accounts, which are audited by an independent auditor. We send this report to the Paris Prefecture, where it can be freely consulted. We also send it to our institutional partners and principal donors. Our accounts are also published in our quarterly journal which is sent to all our donors.

Our operations are regularly audited by the institutional partners who provide funding for our programmes. We are therefore ready to be audited by any official body who should deem this necessary.

In conclusion, we would like to say that, where such serious issues relating to humanitarian aid are concerned, one must avoid generalisation and sensationalism, whilst remaining aware that real risks of humanitarian deviations do exist, which it is our duty to anticipate, prevent and denounce.

Contact presse :
Alain Boinet, Director
Sébastien le Clezio, Responsable Communication, 01 43 15 13 13

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Afghanistan : a dangerous situation
February 25th, 2002

Whilst Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and five of his Ministers prepare to make an official visit to France, to whom we extend our warmest welcome, we must draw attention to the seriousness of the largely underestimated humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. On the spot, volunteers from SOLIDARITES, a humanitarian organisation which has been working in Afghanistan for 20 years, are overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the populations' needs and, despite international aid, many populations in the North of the country are receiving little or no humanitarian aid, according to numerous witness accounts.

A food safety assessment currently being made by our team has already led us to draw the following conclusions :
- We have realised that the interruption of the bulk of humanitarian aid during the 4th quarter 2001 caused a serious shortage situation for the most fragile individuals, in particular displaced persons.
- We have noted that the populations whom we are assisting are heavily in debt and that part of the aid provided currently serves to pay back their debts rather than ensuring their subsistence for the weeks and months to come.
- We believe that mass distribution of wheat seeds in March is an absolute priority to combat hunger, malnutrition and increasing mortality among vulnerable groups such as young children, pregnant and breast-feeding women, the elderly and the sick.

Moreover, we have observed that the deteriorating security situation is an obstacle to humanitarian aid. In the last few days, we have been obliged to evacuate Kamard district, south of Mazar-i-Shariff, as well as Tchak in Wardak province (south of Kabul).

We are most concerned that the reconstruction process in Afghanistan is very slow to start whereas this process could commence with small, fast-impact projects which would prepare future reconstruction phases and would show the Afghan population real commitment from the international community. In addition, those who talk of reconstruction without humanitarian aid are doubly mistaken. In fact, reconstruction and humanitarian aid are closely knit together and today humanitarian assistance is the first emergency response which will remain a priority throughout 2002.
We hope that the Afghan president Hamid Karzai's official visit to France, accompanied by five of his Ministers, will prove to be successful and that our country's solidarity will be equal to the needs, stakes and friendly relations binding us to Afghanistan since it is now that everything must be done to help them to win peace.

To support SOLIDARITES' emergency humanitarian aid in Afghanistan,
please send your donations to : SOLIDARITES - BP 81 - 75020 Paris, or visit www.solidarites.org

Press contacts :
Alain Boinet, Director
Sébastien le Clezio, Communication Manager 01 43 15 13 13, communication@solidarites.org

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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, SOLIDARITES provides daily assistance to the Nyiragongo victims
28 janvier 2002

In Goma (DR Congo), the apparent calm of the Nyiragongo volcano has not extinguished the current humanitarian crisis. Around 40% of the town was destroyed in the eruption and it is estimated that 200,000 of the town's 500,000 residents have been made homeless, and that 340,000 need assistance.

SOLIDARITES, a French humanitarian organisation who intervened in Rwanda in 1994 and who has been working in Burundi since 1996 and in DR Congo since 2000, has been at the heart of the emergency relief effort to assist volcano victims right from the first hours after the eruption. This action has been made possible by our partnerships with the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs emergency committee and by support from the French Embassy in Kigali (Rwanda).

SOLIDARITES' team, which comprises seven expatriate volunteers (including two hydraulic engineers and one nutritionist) and 44 Congolese employees, has already distributed emergency relief to 5300 families (around 37,100 people) in Eastern Goma. This relief comprises one week's food per family (15 kg of maize flour, 5 kg of beans, 5 kg mixed soya and corn, 1 litre of oil) as well as other essential items : blankets, soap, plastic sheeting, jerry cans.

In addition, we are preparing to distribute emergency survival kits (cooking utensils, blankets, plastic sheeting, soap) to families who have lost their homes. At the same time, and in partnership with the French and American governments, we shall be taking charge of the procurement of charcoal for all the NGOs working at the ten distribution sites in Goma (including SOLIDARITES). This charcoal will be distributed to the most vulnerable families to enable them to cook their meals. This programme represents 6,250 sacks of charcoal to be purchased and distributed per month.

Finally, since the prevention of epidemics like cholera is currently a prime concern in Goma, SOLIDARITES, in partnership with the European Union and the ICRC, is to assist the Goma water authority by providing water analysis expertise. We call upon the media not to forget the Nriyagongo victims and to support the humanitarian organisations who are fighting to provide assistance at the foot of the volcano.

To support SOLIDARITES' humanitarian action in DR Congo
Please send your donations to : SOLIDARITES - BP 81 75020 Paris,
or to SOLIDARITES, Villa Souchet - 105 Avenue Gambetta 75020 Paris

Press contacts :
Alain Boinet, Director
Sébastien le Clezio, Communication Manager - 01 43 15 13 13

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Rebuilding Afghanistan with the Afghans
21 janvier 2002

Today marked the opening of the Tokyo conference for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. It is important to restate that this event is essential for the Afghan people, and that much is at stake for them and those who seek to assist them.