Reference :
V-P-TD-E-00236
Date :
06/02/2008
Caption :
N'Djamena. Mortal remains are buried by volunteers of the Red Cross of Chad.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
8-02-2008 Feature
Chad: burial of bodies urgently needed to protect public health
It has been several days now since N'Djamena was shaken to its core by violent clashes between the rebels and government troops. Despite the fragile calm, a matter of great urgency remains – retrieval of the remaining bodies. The Red Cross of Chad continues to take up the task in earnest.
N'Djamena, 3.30 p.m. Five men and two women, all Red Cross of Chad volunteers, are crowded into a Landcruiser headed for Lamadji, a small town about 20 km from N'Djamena. Following behind is a municipal truck from the capital, with a mechanical digger vehicle bringing up the rear.
The purpose of the unusual convoy is not to give care to the injured or food to the hungry. The procession is headed for Lamadji because there's a cemetery there and the truck is loaded with the bodies of combatants and civilian men and women killed in the fighting that has shaken N'Djamena.
Taking advantage of the lull in recent days, Red Cross workers have been busy gathering the bodies strewn about some parts of N'Djamena and loading them for transport to Lamadji. Their faces covered with masks, the volunteers have been at it since 8 o'clock this morning. Most of the bodies are so badly decomposed that identification is impossible.
"This is tough work," says Bongor Zam of the Red Cross of Chad. "But it's necessary work. It protects public health, obviously, but it's also a matter of human dignity. Despite the terrible violence we've been through, and whatever the circumstances of their death – and many of them were combatants – these people deserve a decent burial."
Working with the help of the municipal authorities and support from the ICRC, they have collected 80 bodies in two days around N'Djamena. Each has been placed in a body bag. Now, in Lamadji, the digger is shovelling out soil to prepare the graves. Their day almost done, the volunteers are tired. Tomorrow they will resume their task, this time in other neighbourhoods. The mayor's office reports that there remain about a hundred bodies in the streets and a further 60 in the morgues of the various hospitals.
Meanwhile, different volunteers are caring for the injured and providing other services to relieve the effects of the fighting on a population still shaken despite the fragile calm now prevailing in the Chadian capital.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
3072x2304
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
