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Chahid El Hafed,
31/03/2007 (SPS) The President of the Saharawi Red Crescent (CRS),
Mr. Yahia Bouhebeini, stressed, in a letter to the High Commissioner
for Refugees (HCR), the seriousness of the food situation of the
Saharawi refugees, as well as the rupture, since September 2006, of
the "Special programme" for the Saharawi children and women who
suffer from malnutrition.
This special programme was elaborated, Mr. Bouhebeini indicates in a
letter he addresses to the highest official of the HCR, Mr. Antonio
Gutierrez, following recommendations included in the report of the
specialised Italian Nutrition Institute (INRAN).
The President of the CRS recalled that the study undertook in March
2005 concluded that "76,5% of the pregnant women, 66,4% of
breast-feeding women as well as 68,5% of the children who are under
5 years and victims to anaemia".
Mr. Bouhebeini indicated, on another hand, that the annual budget
dedicated to 2007 "has diminished by 12% in comparison with the last
year, by 31% in comparison to 2005 and by 50% in comparison to
2004".
The President of the CRS related the seriousness of the humanitarian
situation to the "arbitrary and unilateral decision adopted by the
regional director of the HCR (...), in the 22 of August 2005, when
he decided to reduce to number of the beneficiaries from the
Saharawi refugees from 158.000 persons to 90.000 "most vulnerable
refugees!!".(SPS)
020/090/000/TRD 311310 MAR 07 SPS
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