French Red Cross chairman to appeal for international aid

French Red Cross Chairman Marc Gentilini promised on Monday to ask French President Jacques Chirac and the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations to provide economic aid to the Central African Republic. "I will urge him to do something for the CAR people," he said in a speech broadcast by state-owned Radio Centrafrique. Addressing government officials and members of the diplomatic corps in Bangui, the CAR capital, Gentilini said he was scheduled to meet Chirac on Wednesday. Gentilini, who is also a member of a French advisory team that Chirac is consulting for a June G8 summit in Evian, southeastern France, said that he would make "concrete proposals" to the G8 to help CAR. CAR Prime Minister Abel Goumba told Gentilini that the CAR required more help in the health sector. He said that 948 out of every 100,000 mothers died during childbirth, and 136 out of every 1,000 infants died at birth. Goumbe also said that diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, meningitis, measles and sleeping sickness continued to ravage the CAR population, and that the recent fighting in the country had resulted in the destruction of health facilities. The CAR has suffered several military and political crises since the mid-1990s. These include the 1996-1997 mutinies and a number of coup attempts. In the last of these, Francois Bozize ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse on 15 March. As a result of political instability, the health system in CAR has been wrecked. Thousands of people fled the fighting between rebels and government forces and, so far, no large-scale humanitarian operation has been carried out due to prevailing insecurity in areas affected by the conflict. Massive looting and destruction of property ensued in Bangui after Bozize's coup. The CAR Red Cross Society's headquarters was among the buildings destroyed. "The CAR Red Cross deserves special aid," Gentilini said. "We are going to do our best to repair the damages caused by looters." During the crises in the CAR, the Red Cross was responsible for exhuming and reburying corpses inappropriately interned. The Red Cross was also responsible for disinfecting wells in areas where corpses were found. The French Red Cross is helping fund a US $230,000 HIV/AIDS triple-therapy centre planned for Bangui. When complete, the centre, also supported by a French anti-AIDS NGO known as Hanuman and the CAR Ministry of Health, is expected to cater for 2,500 patients and provide anti-retroviral drugs at affordable prices.