The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) has stepped in with a grant of ECU 1.1 million to help the Guatemalans go home and resettle after a prolonged civil war.

Four complementary projects should help a total of 10,000 people over the next six months, some of them returning from Mexico, others from parts of Guatemala where they took refuge temporarily. ECHO is working in partnership with non-governmental organisations from Spain and Italy to carry out the programme.

Three of the projects are in the Alta Verapaz region:

* Paz y Tercer Mundo, a Spanish non-governmental organisation, will look after the needs of some 1,500 refugees returning from Mexico to Nueva Zaculeu.

* Medecins du Monde-Spain will extend a similar project that it is already running in the region. This will benefit communities in Fray Bartolomé and Xamán, reaching a total of about 4,000 people.

* Movimento Liberazione e Sviluppo, an Italian NGO, expects to reach about 3,500 people at four sites in Fray Bartolomé.

A fourth project is in the Quiché region.

* Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli, an Italian NGO, will focus on the needs of people who had to leave their homes, but who stayed within Guatemala itself.

The money will in all cases be spent on food aid, basic shelter, basic inputs to start growing food, medicines and medical equipment.