71.   She said the International Committee of the Red Cross had recently been refused permision to visit prisoners of conscience.

72.   Stocker said the ICRC had so far not received permission to visit prisoners in this prison.

73.   The committee called on ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne to send a mission to visit trade union prisoners and to reinforce international efforts to obtain their unconditional release.

74.   The foreign ministry said the Red Cross, which has visited the prisoners, had alerted Paris to the presence of French-speaking men, according to Rivasseau.

75.   The ICRC has not yet been able to visit these prisoners, who they believe are based in one or more camps in the villages of Lotare and Hase.

76.   The International Committeee of the Red Cross on Wednesday said its staff would visit the prisoners before the end of the week.

77.   The ICRC also wants to re-establish water supplies to a number of hospitals, to register and visit prisoners and use its communications network to re-unite families.

78.   The ICRC has been visiting the prisoners and Martin said authorities here have not prevented access to them.