Nicaragua requests humanitarian aid for Zelaya's followers in border camps

[Judi Lynn]

Nicaragua requests humanitarian aid for Zelaya's followers in border camps


MANAGUA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Nicaraguan government on Wednesday requested humanitarian aid from the United Nations (UN) for the camps of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's followers on the Nicaraguan border with Honduras.

A commission formed by Nicaragua's UN ambassador Maria Rubiales, Health Minister Guillermo Gonzalez and Vice Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke visited the camps on Wednesday.

"We are trying to avoid a sanitary emergency in the place," Rubiales told local press, adding that people in the camps need food, water and medicines, among other daily necessities.

The commission said there are three camps in the area, but the number could rise as groups of Hondurans arrive every day.

Zelaya and his followers set their camps in Ocotal, 26 km to the border with Honduras, organizing "pacific resistance" against the post-coup Honduran government. Their stay was permitted by the Nicaraguan government.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/30/content_11797056.htm