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Iraq: Humanitarian aid
is under threat
October 28, 2003 The attack on the ICRC (International Committee of the
Red Cross) in Baghdad targeted the whole humanitarian community, since
the principles upheld by this international institution, in particular
impartiality and independent aid, are also those of all humanitarian
organisations. In these regions, we are rehabilitating 60 drinking
water treatment plants destined to serve 47,000 people. Our local
team comprises both expatriate volunteers and Iraqi employees, in
particular technicians and engineers, and we are working with Iraqi
companies to carry out economic renewal activities.
We are available to answer questions from journalists
seeking more information Press contacts : Alain Boinet, Founder and
General Manager, To find out more about SOLIDARITES, please visit our website : http://www.solidarites.org  Liberia : drinking water emergency for SOLIDARITES 15 October 2003 After 14 years of civil war, there is now a fragile hope that peace may return to Liberia. But for hundreds of thousands of people who managed to escape the violence and atrocities, their most elementary needs are still not being met. In this country, which is so poor that it is not even ranked on the UN human development index, where average life expectancy is 53 and 75% of the population lives below the poverty line, something as simple yet essential as drinking water is often inaccessible. The water consumed daily by the displaced families around the capital city Monrovia and other towns like Buchanan, is polluted, soiled and unfit for human consumption, a liquid poison which can kill them through dysentry, diarrhea, amoebiasis, verminosis, cholera… In the isolated bush villages, the situation is often just as alarming. SOLIDARITES has a great deal of experience in providing access to drinking water and sanitation for populations who are victims of war :
This emergency project (which represents a budget of
700,000 Euros) will directly benefit around 80,000 people.
However, considering how grave the current health situation is, our volunteers must take action as soon as possible. We need to collect without delay the financial means we urgently need to provide access to clean drinking water in the abandoned areas of this devastated country. SOLIDARITES calls upon the generosity of the French people to support our action. To support SOLIDARITES' emergency humanitarian
action in Liberia, Press contacts : Alain Boinet, Founder - General
Manager To find out more about SOLIDARITES, please consult our website : http://www.solidarites.org
2 years after September 11th, Afghanistan is still in danger Kabul, September 19, 2003 Alain Boinet, General Manager of SOLIDARITES, a international humanitarian aid organisation which has been working in Afghanistan for 23 years, has just completed an evaluation assignment in Afghanistan. His diagnosis of the current situation is very worrying and he makes an appeal to his Afghan friends. I personnally carried out the first SOLIDARITES aid programme in Afghanistan in December 1980, and ever since we have never left the Afghan people's side, whilst pursuing our humanitarian activities in around ten other countries. Today, 21 expatriate volunteers and 500 Afghans implement our humanitarian aid programmes from 8 bases in central and northern Afghanistan. In 2002, we provided assistance to 676,9OO Afghans through food safety programmes, housing, road, track and bridge reconstruction projects, irrigation canal and dam reconstruction projects, women's handicraft projects, as well as through a large-scale agricultural and animal breeding programme (total 2002 budget : 7.8 millions d'Euros). 2 years after September 11th, Afghanistan, and the humanitarian and reconstruction projects which are underway there, are faced with several challenges which threaten the long-term peace process. The first challenge is security. In the North, we are regularly confronted with fighting between General Dostom's forces and those of General Atta. But above all, the situation is progressively worsening in the South and the East, and could spread to new areas, threatening all humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects with complete paralysis. It is for this reason that we severely condemn the assassination of four Afghans working for the DACAAR NGO on September 10th in Ghazni province. The second challenge is drugs. We have personally observed in the areas where we are working that opium poppy cultivation is springing up in areas which were previously poppy-free. There is therefore likely to be an explosion in opium production. Unfortunately, the sale of drugs will break the country up even more, strengthen the position of warlords and armed groups, generate corruption at all levels, and have an adverse effect on Afghan society and public health. The opium scourge, which flourishes due to poverty and insufficient state intervention, is not being fought with enough vigour nor with the necessary means. The third challenge is to build a State subject to the rule of law, as well as public services, both of which are progressing far too slowly due to various opposition forces both inside and outside President Hamid Karzai's government. It is truly urgent that action be taken, since the situation is now worsening faster than the national reconciliation process is progressing. Only a strong government, representing all sectors of Afghan society, will be able to meet the prerequisites for the organisation of elections in June 2004 as stipulated in the Bonn agreement. As is the case in Iraq, a military solution is insufficient, and only a political solution which brings together the majority of consenting Afghans can save Afghanistan from risking a relapse. The now likely possibility of a NATO deployment in major Afghan towns shows the degree of concern felt by the International Community. Therefore, I make an appeal to all of my Afghan friends. There cannot be lasting peace and development without equal representation at all levels, and without true determination to achieve national reconciliation. This will allow simultaneous disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, which are the conditions for elections to be held, otherwise they are likely to have to be postponed, causing serious instability for peace in Afghanistan. Press contacts : Alain Boinet, Founder-Managing
Director To support SOLIDARITES emergency humanitarian
aid in Afghanistan, please send your donations to :
In Iraq, humanitarian
aid to the The attack on the UN offices in Baghdad has immediate
consequences upon humanitarian aid in Iraq : it weakens the UN humanitarian
programme at a time when it is most essential and represents one of
the rare signs of hope for the Iraqi people. To support SOLIDARITES'
emergency humanitarian action in Iraq, We are available to answer questions from journalists seeking more
information Press contact : Alain Boinet,
General Manager : 06 82 59 29 07 To learn more about SOLIDARITES, please visit our website : http://www.solidarites.org Democratic Republic of Congo : SOLIDARITES on the front line of a bloody conflict July 4, 2003 Since late 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex Zaire) has been ravaged by war. Every day, men, women and children are shot and killed. Others succomb to illness, hunger, thirst, exile and exhaustion as they attempt to flee massacres, rape and pillaging. It is estimated that this endless war has claimed between 2 and 4 million victims, making it the bloodiest conflict since World War II. The international humanitarian association SOLIDARITES, who are present in the North Kivu province of D.R. Congo since July 2000, are currently deploying all their efforts to provide emergency aid to the Congolese families fleeing south from the fighting between the Lendu and Hemas militias in the Ituri region near the town of Bunia. This humanitarian aid is being provided under very difficult security conditions, and is further marred by interruptions in UN food aid supplies. Our team on the ground is working both to the north and to the south of a front line, situated 30 km from Lubero, where the two rival branches of the RCD movement (RCD Goma and RCD Kisangi-ML) are engaged in combat. Because, in fact, several conflicts are raging in East D.R. Congo, so the population fleeing the Ituri region find themselves in another war zone when they arrive in North Kivu. To the north of the front line : Between the towns of
Beni and Erengeti (Kivu province), 250 km from Bunia, our team is
providing humanitarian aid to displaced populations fleeing the conflict
in Ituri. We are currently launching several emergency relief programmes
to assist these populations, in partnership with the European Union
(ECHO, EUROPAID), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the French Ministries
for Foreign Affairs and Humantarian action, the OFDA (US) and the
DFID (GB) : To the south of the front line : In view of the large numbers of refugees fleeing the fighting in Ituri, SOLIDARITES is running 7 Nutrition Supplementation Centres (CNS), which care for at least 5,000 patients per month, in the Kayna region. Faced with the grave humanitarian situation in the East D.R. Congo, and whilst the international interim peace-keeping force, under UN/European mandate and French commandment, commences its efforts to render Bunia secure, SOLIDARITES must continue and extend its humanitarian activities. To this end, we most urgently need to receive the necessary funds to further our action. To support SOLIDARITES' humanitarian aid in
D.R. Congo, We are available to provide information to journalists seeking further details concerning the situation in D.R. Congo and regarding our humanitarian action. Press contacts :
DR Congo : humanitarian emergency for the displaced populations in Bunia and Ituri 11 June 2003 Whilst the interim multinational peace-keeping force sent by the European Union, of which French troops form the backbone, is currently being deployed in Bunia, in the Ituri province torn apart by fighting and massacres, the basic humanitarian needs of the populations who have fled south are extreme. Between the towns of Beni and Erengeti (Kivu province), 250 km from Bunia, the humanitarian organisation SOLIDARITES, which has been working in DR Congo since July 2000, is currently providing aid to thousands of displaced families who have fled the Ituri region. These men, women and children, who have survived the most terrible exactions, are completely destitute and often injured. They desperately need shelter, safe drinking water, and food ... Alexandre, our Head of Mission in DR Congo, and his team are working round the clock : 9 drinking water springs are currently being rehabilitated in Beni and Oicha, at a site where 2,000 families have taken refuge. Also in Oicha and the surrounding area, where several unofficial sites have appeared, portable water reservoirs together with distribution ramps have been installed. To meet the needs of 30,000 displaced persons in Erengeti, the chlorination system for the water supply has been reorganised, and 2 reservoirs have been installed. In addition, the SOLIDARITES team has installed a transit camp for 2,000 people at Ndalia, to the north of Erengeti. With the agreement of the United Nations World Food Programme, we have also set up 3 canteens at the Ndalia, Erengeti and Oicha refugee camps. As from today, we are already preparing the next phases of our emergency action : long-term drinking water supplies for the refugee camps, distribution of food and essential supplies, and finally distribution of seeds to nearly 50,000 displaced persons. SOLIDARITES, faced with the urgency of the humanitarian situation in Ituri, calls upon the French government, international institutions and private donors, to contribute to and further the humanitarian action which has been engaged in Ituri without delay. To support SOLIDARITES' emergency humanitarian
action in DR Congo, To find out more, please consult the special report
on our website :
First humanitarian convoy for the Iraqi population to leave Paris 31 March 2003 The international humanitarian organisation, SOLIDARITES, is to send a first convoy of emergency humanitarian aid for the Iraqi population, leaving Paris on Wednesday, April 2nd. This first convoy comprises three trucks carrying 60 tons of essential supplies: high-protein biscuits, sugar, blankets, plastic covers, jerry cans, water filters, and soap which will be distributed directly to Iraqi families by our team on the spot. This convoy, organised by SOLIDARITES, has been generously supported by the M6 group and by private donors, who have made a real contribution to this relief operation at a time when the Iraqi population's humanitarian needs are increasingly urgent. The trucks will be loaded on Tuesday, April 1st, in the presence of Mr. Renaud Muselier, French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, from 11h15 onwards in the Roissy freight zone (contact us for a map and directions). The convoy will then depart on Wednesday, April 2nd, from the Quai de Branly, on the road opposite the Pont d'Iéna, in front of the Eiffel Tower, between 1O and 11h3O am. We invite journalists, the media, Parisians and our
donors to attend the departure of this first convoy, which will be
followed by a second convoy if further donations permit. To support SOLIDARITES' emergency humanitarian
action Press contacts : Alain Boinet, 06.82.59.29.07
For more information, please visit the special
report on Iraq on our website :
SOLIDARITES launches a humanitarian convoy for the Iraqis 24 March 2003 In view of the dramatic situation facing the Iraqi population due to the war and the interruption of monthly distributions of "food baskets" to 16 million people as well as essential drugs, the humanitarian organisation SOLIDARITES has decided, in partnership with the M 6 group, to send a sizeable convoy of emergency humanitarian aid to assist the Iraqi population. SOLIDARITES, which has provided "hand to hand" humanitarian aid for over 20 years, is launching this convoy in partnership and with the exceptional support of the whole M 6 Group with Téva, Fun TV, Club Téléachat. The channel's presenters have decided to lend their support by recording a message appealing for donations to assist the Iraqi population. We wish to provide assistance to the Iraqi populations in difficulty very quickly. Objective: to send a convoy to Iraq in the next few days, a convoy of 6 lorries loaded with essential provisions, in particular high-protein biscuits, powdered milk, tents, plastic sheeting, blankets, water filters, jerry cans, kitchen utensils, etc... We must act now to help the Iraqi population in their hardship. Please send your donations by cheque to : SOLIDARITES - BP 100 - 75020 Paris. Thank you for your generosity
M6 Press contact : For more information, please visit
the special report on Iraq on our website :
SOLIDARITES, international humanitarian aid organisation, launches "a call for help for the Iraqi population". 19 March 2003 The "oil for food" program which provided
16 million Iraqis with a monthly basket of food has just been interrupted,
as has the supply of essential medicines. Iraq is now a closed country,
completely isolated from the rest of the world. The international humanitarian aid organisation SOLIDARITES
has decided to organise the provision of emergency humanitarian relief
to the Iraqi population, as we did in 1991 and 1992 during the first
Gulf War. SOLIDARITES is sending teams of experienced volunteers to
the region in order to organise the first aid activities as soon as
possible. It is for this reason that we are launching an emergency appeal :
Press contact : Alain Boinet, Director, tél. : 06 82 59 29 07 / 01 43 15 13 13 To support SOLIDARITES' emergency humanitarian action in IraqPlease send your donations to : SOLIDARITES - BP 100 - 75020 Paris, or to SOLIDARITES - Villa Souchet - 105 Avenue Gambetta - 75020 Paris.
Ivory Coast : The displaced populations' humanitarian drama 21 February 2003 SOLIDARITIES, an international aid organization whose humanitarian interventions span over 20 years, has sent an emergency evaluation team to Ivory Coast in view of the current situation. During the evaluation, our team has witnessed a dramatic humanitarian situation. In the Southwest of the country, near the towns of Guiglo and Duékoué, around 85.000 people have fled military confrontation, rape, pillaging, summary executions and exactions. Some have travelled on foot by night for several weeks. But once over the cease-fire line, they discovered only famine and over-crowding. Indeed, despite the efforts of various organisations, humanitarian assistance is not yet in place. Accommodation and hygiene conditions in the overpopulated villages situated on the fringe of combat zones in the West of the country are deplorable. Displaced civilians, who are still arriving, have only found refuge around state buildings and religious sanctuaries, where makeshift camps have formed. In Duekoué, around 33,000 people have sought refuge. SOLIDARITES' team have observed that these refugees have nothing, no food, no mats to sleep on, no plastic sheeting to protect themselves from the fast-approaching rainy season, no hygiene products, no latrines, and no jerry-cans to fetch water which only arrives periodically … In Duekoué city hall, our team met a woman, prostrate on the floor, who managed to escape from the place where she was held with her daughters for twelve days, as well as another man who had just come out of the bush, haggard, exhausted and ill, having lost 15 kilos … We have already identified several cases of serious malnutrition. In Guiglo, where over 8,400 people have taken refuge by camping near the city hall, the prefecture, the bus station or even in churches, a measles epidemic has broken out and has already taken 14 lives. A tuberculosis epidemic has also appeared, and we fear that malaria, yellow fever and typhoid, the regional endemic diseases, will follow, decimating those displaced persons who are particularly weak. Another concern is cholera, which lies in wait and could cause terrible losses, as well as the rainy season, which arrives at the end of the month, and which will make the situation even worse. SOLIDARITES, in response to this dramatic humanitarian situation, is fully mobilized to bring emergency aid to these men, women and children as quickly as possible. We are launching an appeal to the general public to help us raise the funds we most urgently need to assist them. To support SOLIDARITES humanitarian
action in Ivory Coast Press contact : Alain
Boinet, Director - Sébastien le Clezio, Communication Manager
- Tél : 01 43 15 13 13 Afghanistan : keeping the roads open this winter February 3, 2003 SOLIDARITES, an international emergency humanitarian aid organisation which has been working in Afghanistan for over 20 years, is currently carrying out a mountain road construction and snow-clearing programme in the country's central region. Because in Afghanistan, keeping the roads open in winter is vital. Hundreds of Afghan workers are currently working on a programme run by SOLIDARITES to keep the Pasroya mountain pass in central Afghanistan open, whose highest point reaches over 3,000 metres. With picks and spades, they are removing the snow and clearing this road without respite, in the biting cold. As Jamshid, a 22 year old working on the programme, explained in a UN press agency (IRIN) dispatch, this work enables them to receive 14 kilos of wheat per day, enough to survive through the winter. SOLIDARITES has committed to keep five mountain passes open this winter in the extremely isolated and mountainous Hazaradjat region (central Afghanistan). However this programme does not only aim to provide economic assistance to the most vulnerable workers. In past years, the village of Pasroya was totally inaccessible by vehicle, due to the lack of a practicable road. Several people who tried to make the journey on foot last winter died of cold, and packs of wolves prowl the area continuously. Neither the provision of fresh supplies nor medical evacuation were conceivable for this village's residents. SOLIDARITES decided to build a road from Bamyan to Yakawlang via Pasroya, and to keep this road open during the winter snowfalls. Guillaume Limal, SOLIDARITES' regional coordinator in Bamyan, makes quite clear how vital this type of programme is : " keeping roads open is of the utmost importance to allow access to urgent medical treatment, to transport humanitarian aid, and for trade purposes. It also allows the reconstruction of ruined houses to continue ". Whilst stability in Afghanistan still needs to be ensured, whilst the country's reconstruction is due to begin, and whilst the humanitarian situation, in particular for the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees returning home, remains very difficult, access to the most isolated populations is of vital importance. Whatever the cost, humanitarian organisations must call on all available means to keep the Afghan mountain roads open this winter. Press contacts : Please send your donations to : SOLIDARITES - BP 100 75020 Paris, or to SOLIDARITES, Villa Souchet - 105 Avenue Gambetta 75020 Paris
Burundi : alarming humanitarian situation Paris, 24th January 2003 SOLIDARITES, an international emergency humanitarian aid organisation, calls for all humanitarian means to be mobilised to cope with the alarming situation faced by Burundese civilians caught in the violent clashes between the army and armed groups since January 17th, 2003. On Thursday 23 January, our team, who are working in
Gitega province, were able to assess the living conditions of around
1,200 displaced families (around 6,000 people) on the Gihe hill in
Giheta district. Furthermore, many of the displaced families whom we visited have been sleeping outside for the past week and are suffering from cold, thirst and lack of basic hygiene. They are in urgent need of emergency food aid as well as basic shelter materials and hygiene products. An assessment has also been carried out in Kirimbi district, where several thousand people are in distress. SOLIDARITES has decided to return to Giheta district as from Monday, despite the extreme difficulty of reaching the displaced population since many roads have been cut off due to current military operations. In partnership with UNICEF, we will commence the emergency distribution of biscuits for children, blankets, water cans, soap and plastic sheeting. In addition, our team will carry out malnourishment screening from Tuesday onwards in Giheta district. SOLIDARITES renews its appeal for the urgent mobilisation of food aid and emergency products for the civilian population of Gitega province, as well as the other provinces affected by the fighting, and asks for access to these populations to be guaranteed. Contacts : To support SOLIDARITES' emergency
humanitarian aid in Burundi
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