This seems kind of important- was it posted yet?
Aid Workers Leaving Iraq, Fearing They Are Targets
By IAN FISHER and ELIZABETH BECKER
Published: October 12, 2003
BAGHDAD, Oct. 11 — The great majority of foreign aid workers in Iraq, fearing they have become targets of the postwar violence, have quietly pulled out of the country in the past month, leaving essential relief work to their Iraqi colleagues and slowing much of the reconstruction effort.
Projects that have been abandoned, at least temporarily, because of the exodus include efforts to dig village wells, repair electrical systems and refurbish health clinics and local hospitals — all of which could bring much needed services to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
The largest reduction in staff has been at the United Nations operation in Iraq, which after two bombings at its main compound since August cut its work force to 35 from a peak of 600 in August.
Nearly every other relief organization has made some reductions, saying that parts of Iraq are now highly risky, between unpredictable spasms of bombing and shooting and high levels of street crime. There have been two killings of aid workers since July, three grenade attacks on aid groups in the last month and at least two carjackings.
Doctors Without Borders, founded by a French group, is weighing whether to proceed with plans to build two more medical clinics, in addition to the three it already runs. Another French group shut down a program for children. The International Committee of the Red Cross has greatly reduced its system to help Iraqis find missing relatives and has cut back on medical assistance to hospitals and clinics.
The United Nations Development Program has put off major reconstruction of electrical systems, and some groups, like Oxfam International, a private charity concerned with fighting poverty, have pulled out their foreign workers altogether.
With the shrinking presence of relief workers, the United States military and its contractors find themselves more alone as they deal with the daily problems of Iraqis.
It is a difficult choice, aid groups say, whether to stay in Iraq now that most of their work has shifted from immediate life-saving measures to longer-term reconstruction projects that could nonetheless improve Iraqis' lives considerably.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is normally the first to join these dangerous situations and the last to leave, has reduced its work force to 30 from 130 at its peak. The committee, based in Geneva, has been committed to Iraq since 1980, offering its services throughout the Persian Gulf war of 1991, the ensuing years when Iraq was under United Nations sanctions, and during the war last spring. But it began pulling out its staff after a Sri Lankan technician was killed in July.
"We are absolutely committed to staying on and carrying on but we have to react to the current situation," said Florian Westphal, a spokesman for the group in Geneva. "One of the most regrettable consequences is that with fewer staff we carry out fewer activities."
The group now restricts itself to providing help in medical emergencies and visiting detainees and prisoners of war to ensure that they are afforded their rights under the Geneva Conventions. "If we don't visit the detainees and help them stay in touch with their relatives, no one else can do it," Mr. Westphal said.
The violence against foreigners continues. On Thursday, José Antonio Bernal Gómez, the deputy intelligence officer at the Spanish Embassy, was assassinated after he opened the door of his home to a man dressed as a Shiite cleric.
Aid workers have become so concerned about their safety that they carefully avoid calling attention to themselves. Normally proud to show off their achievements in the press and to donors, they have taken down signs in front of their offices and stickers off their cars. They seldom speak to reporters.
For the same reason, few among the foreign aid workers are willing to say how many are based in the country, admitting only that more than half have left, leaving mainly managers overseeing budgets and teams of Iraqi workers.
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The aid workers who remain are taking greater precautions, traveling less, increasing protection at their homes and offices, relying more on two-way radios and staying away from the larger hotels. Most say they have not yet hired armed guards.
They say the atmosphere can be deceptively calm. "You don't feel insecurity," said Thomas Dehermann, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders, which has purposely maintained only a small team of foreigners and a limited program in Iraq. "You feel like you are just working and — boom! — it happens."
A further complication is the question of whether smaller aid groups, unlike the United Nations, are actual targets for terror attacks, or mistaken as part of the American occupation forces. "There is some confusion, which is the biggest difficulty working here," Mr. Dehermann said. "Everybody is considered a subcontractor working for the U.S., which is completely wrong."
Enfants du Monde, a French aid group, closed down a center for street children, after a dispute with some of the children led an angry neighbor to tell people in the area that the group was part of the American-led occupation.
"After that, we were quite afraid," said Michel Savel, the group's program coordinator. In recent weeks, the group scaled back in a telling way: Three of six foreign aid workers left, one replaced with a full-time security adviser.
The biggest hole was caused by the flight of more than 550 United Nations workers.
After the bombing on Aug. 19 of the United Nations headquarters here that killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of mission, and 21 other people, the organization has come to rely on its 4,233 Iraqi employees to deliver essential services. That includes bringing about 110,000 tons of food a month through the World Food Program; about 3 million gallons of water a day to Baghdad and Basra through the United Nations Children's Fund, and more than 550,000 tons of fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides for farmers planting winter crops.
"One of the fallouts of our evacuation is we lost some of our most skilled professionals in the field," said William Orme, a spokesman for the United Nations Development Program, which repairs infrastructure. "On the positive side, we have Iraqis in positions of responsibility who are able to carry out the bulk of the immediate repairs."
Aid officials said Iraqis were more than capable of assuming greater roles in their country's recovery. The country director for CARE, Margaret Hassan, is an Iraqi citizen who oversees 8 foreign staff members and 60 Iraqis.
"Even though security remains a major concern — not only for foreigners but for Iraqis — I do think the rebuilding of Iraq must be done overwhelmingly by Iraqis," said Peter D. Bell, president of CARE U.S.A. |
