- In Iraq and Afghanistan, the distinction between soldiers
and aid workers is fatally blurred. The relief agencies, trying to remain
neutral as they struggle to deliver desperately needed supplies, have lost
more than 30 workers in Afghanistan in 18 months.
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- The UN and the Red Cross were hit by suicide bombs in
Iraq which killed 22 people. Many in the international aid community blame
the rising death toll on President George Bush and his "war on terror".
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- Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, has been singled
out for particular blame. He told NGO leaders in October 2001, just after
the 11 September attacks, that they were the "force multipliers"
of the military effort against terrorism.
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- "That was a disaster for us," says Dominic
Nutt of Christian Aid, which is remaining in Afghanistan despite the security
concerns that forced yesterday's shock withdrawal of MedÈcins sans
FrontiËres (MSF). "We can't be afford to be associated with the
military or politicians. But we're not seen to be neutral any more because
of the way the Americans have set things up in Afghanistan."
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- The trouble had been brewing since the disastrous American
foray into Somalia in 1993, when a UN peace-keeping force dispatched to
help alleviate famine became transformed into the US hunt for the warlord,
Mohamed Farah Aideed. Debate in the aid community then intensified over
Kosovo, when Nato provided logistical help for ethnic Albanians fleeing
across the border after its bombing campaign started. Nato's humanitarian
role was bitterly resisted by some relief agencies such as MSF.
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- But calls for the clear separation of military and humanitarian
roles have become more urgent since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with
the relief agencies in the firing line because of the perception that they
are working for coalition forces. "Christian Aid worked in Afghanistan
in the Soviet period and under the Taliban," Mr Nutt says. "This
the most dangerous period for aid workers it's ever been. We're now targets."
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- Seven people working with Christian Aid were murdered
in Afghanistan in the past two months, he says. "Those who escaped
said the people who shot them were the Taliban, accusing them of being
US agents."
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- Part of the confusion stems from coalition "hearts
and minds" teams of US and Nato troops. Soldiers with the Provincial
Reconstruction Teams are providing basic health care, digging wells and
other work normally done by civilians.
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- "We all look the same," Mr Nutt said. "Aid
workers in comfortable clothes with a bottle of water; soldiers who are
not always in uniform; soldiers doing aid work with civilians so nobody
knows who is doing what, why and when."
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- Paul O'Brien, the overseas director for Concern Worldwide,
says: "We could use the military for logistical support. In Mozambique,
the South African military sent helicopters to rescue flood victims. But
for the most part, the aid community wants to draw a line between their
role and ours."
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- In Afghanistan, he says, the military "want to do
humanitarian work, so they take off uniform and maybe have their weapon
nearby. But the Afghans look at NGOs and the military people; they need
to know there is a huge difference between the two".
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- Oxfam, which has 10 international and 100 local staff
in Afghanistan, pulled out of Iraq months ago because of deteriorating
security. A spokesman, Brendan Cox, says: "One of the points we made
there was that the coalition had to do more to differentiate between the
occupying force and other agencies, including shared flights and facilities."
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- But there have also been disturbing reports of the US
military using aid as a political weapon, which has further contributed
to undermine the neutrality of the NGOs.
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- The United Nations last month issued guidelines for military
participation in humanitarian activities. One crucial recommendation was
that, "humanitarian work should be performed by humanitarian organisations".
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=545774
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