ICRC to boost Afghan help next year

A new hospital was built in Peshwara, Pakistan, this year, and more will follow, including another one soon in Quetta.

Afghanistan will become the costliest operation for the International Committee of the Red Cross next year, superseding Sudan, the agency said Tuesday as it sought to boost spending on medical care.

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said the humanitarian agency needed 983 million Swiss francs (980 million dollars, 651 million euros) to finance field operations in conflict zones in 2010, a similar amount to this year.

- Millions of people affected by armed conflict do not have sufficient access to basic health services and many wounded die because they can't get the care they need - he said.

The agency, which specialises in conflict zones, announced that it had decided to set up permanent hospitals of its own again after closing the last one in Kenya about three years ago.

A new hospital was built in Peshwara, Pakistan, this year, and more will follow, including another one soon in Quetta, Kellenberger said.

- We found that in certain circumstances, it isn't always possible to depend on existing medical structures and endure a sufficient level of care - he told journalists.

But part of the seven percent boost to medical spending will also be earmarked for facilities the ICRC supports, notably in Afghanistan.

The war torn country will become the top operation for the relief agency in financial terms, accounting for an estimated 86 million Swiss francs, an increase of nearly a fifth over this year.

Other major field operations for 2010 include Iraq (85.2 million francs), and a 25 percent increase for Democratic Republic of Congo (66.3 million francs), while the emergency appeal for Pakistan was more than doubled to 32.4 million francs.

The budget for Sudan, including strife torn western region of Darfur, will be cut by about a quarter, however.

- For Darfur the humanitarian needs remain very large but we are no longer in a high intensity conflict - Kellenberger explained.

ICRC operations in eastern Chad, close to the border with Sudan, remain suspended following the abduction of two staff members.

Laurent Maurice, a French agronomist, was seized by armed men in a village in eastern Chad on November 9, just weeks after a 35 year-old British-French relief worker was taken in a village in Darfur, close to the border with Chad.

Kellenberger said the agency was still in contact with the groups behind the abductions, but declined to give any details.