CaptionLandmine victims in Kuito, a town where many people were killed and traumatized during the civil war. To date some 70,000 Angolans, 8,000 of them children, have been disabled by exploding mines. For decades colonizers, armies and freedom fighters laid mines randomly on roads and bridges in order to disrupt communications. As a result, there are today probably as many unexploded land mines in Angola as there are inhabitants.
CaptionMiguel Ariel Rodríguez (left) and José Luis de León take Cassandra (1) to safety. Trapped in their home on the edge of the Guamani river, four of the nine-member Gómez family were swept off by the rising water. Her mother and three siblings did not survive the ordeal. But at dusk help was at hand for the others. The two men risked their lives to rescue them. What started as the kind of tropical storm inherent to the climate of the Caribbean turned into fierce Hurricane Hortense, which pelted Puerto Rico more than 45cm of rain and thrashed the island with 121kmph winds. As Hortense continued on its destructive course, it left 16 Puerto Ricans dead in its wake.
CaptionIbrahim Alayan is pulled from the rubble of his home in Nabatiyet north of Tyre, which was hit by a missile. For 16 days Israel pounded Lebanon targeting the Hezballah movement using artillery, missiles, F-16 jets and helicopter gunships. Some 160 Lebanese civilians lost their lives before US-guided diplomacy silenced the guns.
CaptionA man gives free rein to his grief after discovering the body of his brother. After seizing 3,000 hostages in Dagestan, a large group of Chechen rebels found themselves trapped in the village. The subsequent missile attack claimed many lives, but dozens of rebels managed to escape.
CaptionA man makes a futile attempt at quenching a blaze. Carrying out the Dayton peace agreement sparked much aggression, nurtured by almost four years of war. Gangs of Serb arsonists and looters did what damage they could in five Sarajevo suburbs due to be transferred to the Muslim-Croat Federation.
CaptionNigerian members of the West African peacekeeping force protect frightened civilians. In April and May excessive violence flares up. The fiercest fighting in the country's seven-year civil strife claimed some 1,500 lives, forcing most aid organizations to evacuate their workers and almost half the population to flee their homes. The situation was sparked off by the refusal to surrender of a dismissed minister and warlord supported by the Krahn ethnic group.
CaptionMiguel Ariel Rodríguez (left) and José Luis de León take Cassandra (1) to safety. Trapped in their home on the edge of the Guamani river, four of the nine-member Gómez family were swept off by the rising water. Her mother and three siblings did not survive the ordeal. But at dusk help was at hand for the others. The two men risked their lives to rescue them. What started as the kind of tropical storm inherent to the climate of the Caribbean turned into fierce Hurricane Hortense, which pelted Puerto Rico with more than 45cm of rain and thrashed the island with 121kmph winds. As Hortense continued on its destructive course, it left 16 Puerto Ricans dead in its wake.
CaptionA woman stands dazed in the urban battleground. Peaceful coexistence within the Russian federation proved unattainable. After sustaining heavy losses at the hands of the highly motivated Chechen rebels, Yeltsin ordered his national security chief, Alexander Lebed, to extricate Russia from the civil war which had already claimed over 30,000 casualties. In September a cease-fire was declared and the Russian army hastily departed amidst artillery and sniper fire.
CaptionThousands of refugees camp by the roadside on their way back to Rwanda. A new chapter was added to the tale of the hatred and violence between central Africa's Hutu and Tutsi population, which led to the genocide of some 800,000 Tutsi and a mass exodus to Zaire in 1994. Cross-border raids and fighting between Zairean rebels and government soldiers dispersed hundreds of thousands of refugees, turning Mugunga in eastern Zaire into the world's largest refugee camp. As the situation got desperate the West made plans to send in troops, but at that point a Tutsi-led offensive of Zairean rebels broke the Hutu militias' control of the camps.
CaptionProtesters and police confronted each other in bitter clashes near Newbury in South East England, when preparations started for the construction of a highway bypass west of the town. The projected bypass cuts through an area of historical interest and an ancient forest. The activists tried to prevent trees being cut down by climbing them and by building rope walkways and tree houses.
CaptionA boy cries out in terror after being dragged onto a truck heading for Rwanda. In an exodus of epic proportions, over half a million refugees left the camps in Zaire where they had lived since 1994.
CaptionA cow suspected of carrying BSE is placed in an incinerator. When a link was established in England between BSE, also known as 'mad cow disease', and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, a fatal brain condition in humans, it sparked off a political row in the European Union. British beef was banned worldwide, and by the year's end over a million cattle had been destroyed.
CaptionFood riots were the order of the day when supplies ran out in Goma, near Mugunga refugee camp. After two years in camps in Zaire, an exodus of more than 500,000 Rwandans got underway. Some refugees were massacred by Hutu soldiers who tried to stop them returning to Tutsi-controlled Rwanda. The refugees often took weeks to reach their homes, scrambling for truck rides and walking by night.
CaptionWhen the Taliban (whose name means 'students of religion' in the language of the Pathan tribe) took Kabul, women were instructed to cloak themselves in the burqa, which covers even the eyes.
CaptionThe fundamentalist Taliban movement steadily pushed north. In October they conquered Kabul and promptly imposed strict Islamic law on its one million inhabitants.
CaptionIsraeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meet at the White House. The occasion was a 36-hour summit called at short notice when heavy fighting had put the Middle East peace process in jeopardy. Afterwards, a renunciation of violence was announced along with plans for negotiations to ease the Israeli presence in Hebron.
CaptionPreparing for a debate, President Bill Clinton received 50 percent of the vote against Bob Dole's 41 percent. Turnout fell below 50 percent, the lowest level since 1924. Clinton emerged the winner in the US elections in November, and was the first Democratic president to be re-elected since 1944. He has to work with a Congress controlled by Republicans.
CaptionIn the run-up to the Russian Presidential election, Boris Yeltsin joins the band. The demonstration of energy did not dispel worries about his poor health, and before the year's end he had to undergo a heart bypass operation. In the two-round election Yeltsin convincingly defeated ten other candidates including his main rival, the Communist Party's Gennady Zyuganov.
CaptionAngolan children mutilated by land mines in Luanda, Huambo and Kuito: Of the estimated nine to 15 million mines in Angola, only 80,000 have been cleared. Throughout the anti-colonial rebellion of the 1960s, the civil war following independence and the period when the country became a focus of international power politics, land mines have been deployed here, particularly by UNITA and the Angolan army. Since the signing of the Lusaka Protocol in November 1994, peace has gradually returned. An ambitious UN-instigated program is attempting to rehabilitate Angola's infrastructure. The land mine problem is being addressed through clearance, surveying and marking, while 'mine awareness training' helps civilians avoid dangerous areas.
CaptionAids and prostitution are growing problems in Kenya. Despite government information campaigns, some 230,000 Kenyans are expected to succumb to aids by the year 2000. Calculations show a total of 1.6 million HIV carriers at that time, including 100,000 children. Currently 40 percent of all HIV-infected mothers pass the disease on to their offspring. The demand for prostitutes created by the increasing number of sex tourists lures many young girls to Nairobi and Mombasa.
CaptionThe Roma population living around Bucharest, Craiova and Baia Mare: Originally thought to come from Egypt (hence the word Gypsy), they number six million in Eastern Europe, with two and a half million living in Romania itself. In many regions, the Romas are a closed community marginalized by the original population. The traditionally large families have given up their nomadic existence, living sedentary lives in tents and barracks. For their livelihood they depend on trade or manual jobs.
CaptionWith two consecutive Olympic gold medals on the 100m, US athlete Gail Devers has every reason to show off her muscles. But she has also had more than her share of adversity. After getting the wrong treatment for Graves' Disease, Devers came close to having her feet amputated. Later, repeated hamstring injuries cleared up only just in time for her to go for gold in Atlanta.
CaptionThree Mennonite women. Named after Menno Simons, a dissident 16th-century priest, the Mennonites are a Protestant sect with strict ascetic and pacifist beliefs, which make it impossible for them to fit into modern society. In the 1920s thousands of Mennonites moved from Canada to Mexico.
Organization / PublicationKatz Pictures for GQ Magazine
CategoryPortraits
Prize3rd prize
Date1996
CaptionBritish billionaire Richard Branson donned his wings shortly before his ill-fated trip around the world by hot-air balloon. The self-styled 'adventure capitalist' is one of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet and the owner of record stores, airlines, cinemas, radio stations and more - all of them named Virgin.
Organization / PublicationNetwork Photographers for Sunday Times Magazine
CategoryPortraits
PrizeHonorable mention
Date1996
CountryUnited Kingdom
CaptionJan Gardner (38), her daughter Vicky (19), and Vicky's baby. While still a teenager, Jan had two children by different fathers, neither of whom paid maintenance. The women share a house near Rotherham.
CaptionSignaling respect for Islamic traditions, their hands are painted with henna and their bodies are covered. Yet the place of women in Mauritania is unique in the Arab world. In this tribal society of former nomads, where a third of the population is descended from unions between Moors and their black slaves, women can get divorced and remarried and are able to assert their independence through freedom of expression.
Organization / Publicationfor Creative Photographers inc. / The Sunday Times Magazine
CategoryPortraits stories
Prize2nd prize
Date30-09-1996
CountryUSA
PlaceNew York
CaptionIrish actor Liam Neeson. After appearing in 23 mostly unheralded films, Neeson hit the big time in 1993 with his role in 'Schindler's List', for which he received an Oscar nomination. In 1996 he played the title role in 'Michael Collins', about a reckless Irish rebel who was at the time the most hunted man in Europe.
Organization / Publicationfor Creative Photographers inc.
CategoryPortraits stories
Prize3rd prize
Date1996
CountryUSA
CaptionMen before 10am. Actors in their homes and in hotel rooms in New York and California before they 'put their masks on': US actor Seymour Cassel (putting in his contact lenses at 9:07).
CaptionDuring the Olympic swimming trials, Gregg Schaffer relaxes on a platform before his heat in the men's 200-meter individual medley. To his right, another swimmer passes by in the warm-up pool. Schaffer did not qualify for the Olympics.
CaptionIn an athletic display of delight, American Gail Devers leaps into the arms of her coach, Bob Kersee. She had just won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter sprint - as she did four years ago in Barcelona - renewing her claim to the title of fastest woman in the world.
CaptionAt the arena, Cristina Sánchez deals a blow to the bullfight as a symbol of unbridled machismo. Having already killed 400 bulls in six years, she took her 'alternativa', the ceremonial fight which made her Spain's first fully-fledged female matador.
Organization / PublicationThe Sydney Morning Herald
CategorySports
PrizeHonorable mention
Date00-03-1996
CountryAustralia
PlaceNew South Wales
CaptionSince women gained the right to compete in Australia's surf lifesaving competitions three years ago, the number of all-female crews has been steadily growing. Shot at the New South Wales championships, this picture shows a wipeout, when a boat hits a wave and becomes airborne. One of the crew was injured as the boat crashed back into the surf.
Organization / PublicationThe San Bernardino County Sun
CategorySports stories
Prize1st prize
Date1996
CountryUSA
PlaceAtlanta
CaptionThe Paralympic Games followed hot on the heels of the Olympics. With 3,500 disabled athletes from over 100 countries competing in 17 sports, this is the world's second largest sporting event.
CaptionBoer David Reid (US) is euphoric after knocking out his Cuban opponent. The Olympics yield dramatic images of victory and defeat, jubilation and despair.
CaptionIsadora Duncan, the modern dance pioneer who sought to transform dance from a pre-planned entertainment routine to a means of individual expression, inspired New York's Foundation for Contemporary Dance, which bears her name. Replacing the usual attire with flowing Greek robes, the dancers try to create the continuity, harmony and freedom of spirit embodying Isadora Duncan's art.
CaptionAvant-garde performance artist Kjartan Slettemark expresses his long-term fascination with Richard Nion in many ways. In 1971 he added a hand holding a cup of coffee to Nion's election poster and pasted the result all over Stockholm. He increasingly identified with Nion during Watergate, and even succeeded in gaining access to the US with a passport showing a manipulated picture of the former president.
CaptionThe Natural History Museum was the location for this fashion shoot. Produced for the Rocky Mountain News' 'spring style' section, the image features a toy trout, a pack of stuffed wolves - and a fashion model with acting talent.
CaptionAnything goes at the Burning Man Festival, held on a vast, arid, prehistoric lake-bed. Ringed by majestic mountains, the Black Rock desert proves the ideal site for this celebration of alternative living by some 7,000 artists, environmentalists, anarchists and exhibitionists, brought together through the Internet. Kilometers away from what they see as a society of straitjacketed puritans, the participants live for five days in tents and trailers in a world of their own creation, where clothing is optional. The only way to buy anything is by bartering, and volunteers deal with revelers overdosing on drugs, sunshine or both. The festival ends with the ritual burning of a huge human effigy, symbolizing pagan sacrifice and renewal.
CaptionIvan Dubreuil (France) and dancer Ken Ossola (Switzerland) in a moment from 'Kaamos', choreographed by Ohad Naharin. Rehearsals in progress at the studios of the Netherlands Dance Theater, a modern dance company. In 1996 this multicultural group of 32 dancers appeared at many Dutch venues as well as performing in Belgium, France, Scotland, the USA and Australia.
Organization / PublicationContact Press Images for Fortune Magazine
CategoryScience & Technology
Prize1st prize
Date1996
CountryUSA
PlacePalm Beach
CaptionTechno Sapiens. A 'breathing observation bubble' carries riders underwater without scuba gear. The US Army's Land Warrior system equips soldiers with thermal vision, global navigation and digital communications.
CaptionAurora borealis lights up the darkness of the Arctic winter. It illuminates the Antarctica, a French vessel which lay encased in ice in a Spitsbergen fjord for eight months. The storms and extreme temperatures of the polar night did not stop the scientists on board from studying marine currents and animal plankton. In June the vessel finally broke free and returned to Brittany.
Organization / PublicationLos Angeles Times / Life
CategoryScience & Technology
Prize3rd prize
Date1996
CountryUSA
PlaceAnza-Borrego Desert, California
CaptionThe photographer's son plays ball with a comet. In fact comet Hyakutake, named after its Japanese discoverer, is hundreds of thousands of kilometers across. A remnant of the birth of our solar system, it was the brightest comet in 20 years.
CaptionThe construction of a prototype for a new-generation container ship: The new ship, with a capacity of 2,900 containers, lies in Kvaerner's 320-meter-long dry-dock prior to its launch in the spring of 1996. Norway's Kvaerner corporation - Europe's largest shipbuilder with 56,000 employees worldwide - now owns this shipyard, in which the German state has a major financial stake.
CaptionA part of a subsonic wind tunnel, known as the tranquilization room. Research studies at ONERA seek to understand fundamental aerodynamic phenomena, particularly of turbulent and hypersonic flows, with a view to solving the problems encountered in the aviation and space industries.
CaptionA bottlenose dolphin frolics in the bow surf of a supertanker off the coast of Texas. Using their pectoral flippers to steer and stop, dolphins love to ride the waves and are very creative at finding floating toys and playmates. The dolphin population in the Gulf of Mexico is estimated at 67,000.
