Mexican Red Cross denies deliberately sending old medicine to Indians

The Mexican Red Cross has denied claims by some indigenous leaders that it intentionally sent time-expired medicines to Indians in the troubled southern state of Chiapas.

Representatives of indigenous communities said on Wednesday they were rejecting aid distributed by the Mexican Red Cross because it wastoo old for use.

In response, the Red Cross said only one twenty-kilogramme box of medicines was beyond its expiry date -- out of a total of eight tonnes.

A Red Cross spokesman said that in emergency situations, it was not always possible to check every shipment of aid.

Several thousand Indians fled their homes in Chiapas following the massacre of forty-five people by paramilitary gunmen last month.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service