Christine
Rieben
Christine Rieben profile's picture
Uganda

We remember Christine Rieben

Christine Rieben was born on 27 October 1950 in Orbe, Switzerland, and went to school, through the early secondary level, in nearby Vallorbe. She attended high school in Lausanne, where she studied the classics, receiving her diploma in 1968. Between 1968 and 1970, Christine spent a year in Cambridge learning English and then several months in Lübeck and Munich learning German. Upon returning to Switzerland, she enrolled in the University of Lausanne and completed her degree in political science in 1973.


After working various local jobs, Christine travelled to South America in 1975, living and working closely with local communities. She spent one year exploring Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Brazil, where she visited archaeology sites and engaged in small projects for local missionaries. For the following two years, she travelled around Argentina, working at an archaeology museum, helping farmers battle crop pests, teaching French and English, and engaging in cultural and outreach activities. Soon after moving back to Switzerland in early 1978, she applied for work as an ICRC delegate. 


After her initial training, Christine worked for the Central Tracing Agency for three months. Her supervisors, recognizing her potential, kept her on for another five months. In March 1979 she went on her first mission for the ICRC, to N’Djamena, Chad. The focus of that six-month assignment was on setting up the ICRC’s work in tracing missing people amid widespread civil unrest. Christine proved to be an effective manager – organized and respectful of others. She created a constructive work environment for the local staff members. 


Christine returned to Geneva in August 1979 for another short stint at the Central Tracing Agency. She then went on another mission abroad, this time to Kampala, where her tracing expertise was put to use in the ICRC’s new delegation in Uganda. She arrived in December 1979 and had not been there long when tragedy struck. On 17 January 1980, several weeks into her new assignment, Christine was killed in a traffic accident near Kampala; the other occupants of the vehicle escaped with minor injuries. Christine was 29 years old.


Christine was a quiet pillar of strength, providing support to those around her without calling attention to herself. Combining the deep faith and strong morals that she inherited from her mother and the love for simplicity and order that she learned from her father, Christine sought to understand the world so that she could better serve the needs of those around her.

The ICRC in
Uganda, 1980

The ICRC had long been active in Africa but did not open a delegation in Uganda until 1979, against the backdrop of the war between Uganda and Tanzania that began in October 1978. In that conflict, the Ugandan government had the support of Libya and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, while Tanzania was backed by Ugandan exiles. In April 1979, the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) – with the support of Tanzania – toppled the government in Kampala. The fighting ended two months later, but Tanzania continued to occupy the country and the political situation remained fluid. Throughout this period, Uganda experienced severe economic shortages and was beset by social unrest and sectarian violence. The ICRC’s primary activity, starting in May 1979, was visiting detainees: delegates visited some 4,500 detainees in 18 detention centres between May and December of that year. The ICRC also provided medical supplies and relief assistance, although the local National Society – the Ugandan Red Cross Society – soon assumed much of that responsibility. The ICRC’s tracing efforts started in September 1979. This involved setting up a card-index filing system, registering detainees, delivering messages between detainees and family members, and helping locate missing loved ones. The organization’s tracing work was in high demand, and Christine Rieben was brought in at the end of 1979 to help ramp up its capacity.

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