KUWAIT CITY, 11 March 2003 — The Kuwait-based Humanitarian Operations Center (HOC) announced yesterday it will be coordinating between local and international organizations to care for any refugees who flood across the emirate’s northern border as a result of war against Iraq.
But the newly-formed center would not say how many displaced Iraqis it could cater for or outline logistics for providing food, water, tents and volunteers to confront any large-scale refugee problem should Iraq come under military attack from US and British forces.
“The HOC’s mission is to facilitate the work of humanitarian organizations that will be called upon to assist the Iraqi people in the event of a conflict in the region,” said Ali Al-Momen, Kuwait’s former army chief-of-staff who now heads the center.
“We are concerned for the welfare of the people in Iraq and want to alleviate undue suffering in case of conflict,” he told a press conference to announce the center’s opening.
“HOC provides a venue for governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, all with the shared interest of providing humanitarian assistance,” Momen said.
Momen reiterated Kuwait’s line that any refugees will not be allowed into Kuwait proper but would be sheltered “within Iraqi borders, mainly the DMZ” (demilitarized zone) on the border.
HOC adviser Alistair Mack stressed any Iraqi refugees must be kept “as close as possible to their homes and must be returned with dignity to their homes.”
The 240-kilometer land and maritime border Kuwait shares with Iraq is currently monitored by the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM), which is already scaling down its presence in the area due to rising tensions.
Should the United States launch a war on Iraq, UNIKOM has said it will cease border operations altogether and pull out all its staff.
The DMZ extends 10 kilometers into Iraq and five kilometers into Kuwait.
A trench, a three-meter high sand wall and an electric fence extend along the 200-kilometer-long land border with Iraq.
Gaps, large enough for any vehicle to pass through, have already been made in the fence, apparently to facilitate the entry of invading US and British forces and military hardware.
Any refugees will “be very well looked after and supported by all organizations and the international community,” Momen assured. “The best solution” is to keep them out of Kuwait, he said.
Also on the panel, Lewis Lucke of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the agency “has been involved in contingency planning for some months now.”
But none of the panel members would outline precisely how a potentially massive Iraqi refugee problem would be handled.
