Mali: ICRC ready to help more people

Geneva (ICRC) - At the end of his three-day visit to Mali and Niger on Wednesday 24 October, ICRC president Peter Maurer warned that military deployments and renewed hostilities in the region would inevitably have humanitarian consequences for the population.

While in Mopti, Mali, assessing the situation in a camp hosting some of the tens of thousands of people displaced from the North and the main towns such as Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, Mr. Maurer said that "food, water and medicine...are needed in big quantities, adding that ICRC has asked the donor community for additional funds to support its operations in Mali and the Sahel region.

This is the second time in 2012 that the organization has appealed to donors for funds to meet the mounting humanitarian needs in the region. The plan is to help 420,000 people in Mali by the end of the year with food distributions. This will be done in collaboration with the Mali Red Cross. The ICRC will also provide medicine and other essential items to Gao hospital and other health-care facilities throughout the north of the country. The total budget for ICRC operations in Mali and Niger amounts to 59 million Swiss Francs, the fourth most important ICRC operation worldwide.

The logistic centre set up in Mopti helps the ICRC and Mali Red Cross respond to the needs of the population displaced by the armed conflict. It may also serve to respond to the additional needs that renewed fighting in the north of the country would inevitably generate. The Red Cross is one of the rare humanitarian organizations operating in the areas controlled by armed groups starting a few kilometres north of Mopti.

The population, already affected by the conflict and insufficient public services, has exhausted most of its coping mechanisms due to the recurrent food crisis, recently aggravated by heavy rains which swept away crops in numerous areas.

During his visit, the president met with senior government officials in both Mali and Niger.

President Maurer also visited a detention facility near Bamako to see by himself the living conditions of the prisoners. The ICRC seeks to visit all detainees in Mali to make sure that they are treated according to the legal provisions protecting people deprived of their freedom.

Facts & Figures

By the end of 2012, the ICRC will have:

• Provided food for 360,000 people in the three regions of northern Mali (Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu) and for 60,000 displaced people in Mopti
• Provided seeds for the most vulnerable
• Bought weak livestock from 15,000 members of herder families, so they can purchase needed items.
• Supported health structures including Gao hospital (the main hospital in the region)
• Provided fuel to ensure access to water for the urban populations of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu (over 60'000 people)
• Provided emergency aid for wounded people, displaced people and refugees in Niger
• Visited detainees, who are sometimes held in remote locations

SHOTLIST

Location: Mopti and Bamako (Mali)
Length: 3:46
Format: Mpeg4 / 16:9 anamorphic
Production: Sebastien Carliez/Didier Revol
Camera: Jón Björgvinsson
Sound: English & French
ICRC ref: AV043N
Date: 24 October 2012

Copyright: ICRC access all

0:00 Aerial view of Mopti with red cross emblem on wing

0:06 Military pick up (technical)

0:10 ICRC president Peter Maurer gets off the plane, greeted by military authorities

0:17 ICRC car driving along river Niger

0:23 Peter Maurer enters displaced camp

0:28 General views of camp (2 shots)

0: 38 Maurer with displaced

0:45 SOUNDBITE ICRC President, Peter Maurer (in English - 23"):
"In a camp like this, you can see the immense needs which arise in the present situation, which are food, water and medicine, which is needed in big quantities. ICRC has asked the donor community for an increase of budget of its operations in Mali and the Sahel as a whole."

1:08 Various shots of IDPs (3)

1:26 Mariam Sissouko, displaced from Kidal with her five children, walks through the camp

1:33 SOUNDBITE Mariam Sissouko, displaced from Kidal (in French - 11"):
"Our wish is that war ends and every one can get back home. We want peace. Peace in Mali, peace for every one, that's what we want."

"Notre souhait c'est que la guerre finisse et que tout le monde rentre chez soi. C'est la paix qu'on veut. La paix au Mali, la paix pour tout le monde, c'est ça qu'on veut."

1:45 SOUNDBITE Mariam Sissouko, displaced from Kidal (in French - 9"):
"The Red Cross has done a lot for us. They've brought plastic sheeting, they feed us and they provide water."

"La Croix-Rouge a fait beaucoup de choses pour nous. Elle nous a amené des bâches ici, elle nous a donné à manger, elle nous a donné à boire."

1:45 SOUNDBITE Mariam Sissouko, displaced from Kidal (in French - 11"):

"Mali Red Cross has provided telephones so everybody can get news from their relatives."

"La Croix-Rouge malienne a amené des téléphones pour que chacun de nous puisse avoir des nouvelles de ses parents."

2:05 ICRC car entering logistic compound

2:11 ICRC president walks towards warehouse

2:17 Various shots of men piling food bags (3)

2:36 Warehouse and trucks (pan)

2:42 ICRC team arriving in Bamako by plane

2:49 ICRC president meets Prime Minister of Mali Sheik Mobido Diarra (2 shots)

3:04 ICRC team entering place of detention near Bamako

3:11 President Maurer in a cell with prisoners and prison staff

3:19 Various shots inside place of detention (4)

3:46 ENDS