Nation to benefit from $2.2 million ICRC water project

The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in the Central African Republic has received 1.2 billion francs CFA (US $2.2 million) from its Geneva headquarters to start a drinking water programme for eight locations in the country, ICRC delegate Francois Jacot told IRIN on Thursday. The programme is scheduled to begin in late August and end in December. In addition to the capital, Bangui, Jacot said, other areas set to benefit from the programme are in the east and west-central parts of the country, where the state water utility, the Societe de Distribution des Eaux en Centrafrique (SODECA), had stopped providing water due to war of to lack of treatment chemicals. "The aim is to avoid that populations in major cities suffering from shortages of water chemical products," Jacot said. He added that ICRC would also establish another programme, at a later date, for villages. Equipment and other material belonging to SODECA was looted during fighting between government and rebel troops between October 2002 and March 2003. The war, and insecurity that has persisted across the country since the 15 March coup in which Francois Bozize overthrew President Ange-Felix Patasse, has adversely affected the supply of safe drinking water in many areas. In most regions, hospitals lack clean water. People have had to rely on wells, exposing them to water-borne diseases. Health authorities in Bambari, 385 km east of Bangui, announced in May that cases of diarrhoea and typhoid had increased in health facilities due to lack of clean water. Jacot said that the ICRC programme would also include an emergency medical intervention in the north, where most of the fighting took place and destabilised the health system. While Italian NGO Cooperazione Internazionale would be distributing drugs, Jacot said, the ICRC would re-equip the main hospitals in Ouham and Ouham Pende provinces with materials ranging from mattresses to freezers to store vaccines. The ICRC would also assess other needs in hospitals, Jacot said. He said the programme would deal with members of families who were separated because of the fighting, starting with those among the 41,000 CAR refugees in southern Chad, where 80 non-accompanied children have already been identified. "We think there are many hundreds of children who need to be reunited with their families," he said.