KUWAIT, 15 March 2003 — International aid agencies insisted yesterday that military forces on all sides must secure safe corridors to let them help Iraqi civilians in the event of war.
Aid workers said they feared a US-led invasion of Iraq could trigger a humanitarian disaster if they were denied speedy access to millions of civilians already living hand-to-mouth after 12 years of grinding sanctions.
“The military has an obligation to allow full and free access to humanitarian agencies,” said Lewis Sida, emergency coordinator for Save the Children. “We want to save lives and we have to be able to get in there and do it.”
The US military says front-line troops will carry food rations to hand out to hungry civilians, but humanitarian workers say soldiers and aid do not mix.
“Trying to win hearts and minds in areas under military control, or denying assistance to people in other areas, is an age-old military strategy,” said Sida. “The aim of the humanitarian community is to assist people based on need — regardless of political affiliation, religion, ethnicity or where they happen to be.”
Relief agencies are stockpiling food and emergency supplies, such as tents and medicines, in countries around Iraq and are in discussions with all sides about access to civilians. Kuwait, the main base for US and British troops massing for a possible attack, is hosting a humanitarian operations center for the US military to coordinate with aid agencies. But aid workers complain that information is sketchy.
“We’ve been told about two access routes we should be able to use from Kuwait,” said one aid worker in Kuwait City. “But when and how, nothing is clear.”
“We know it depends on how military operations go but, at the moment, we don’t feel like we’re a priority.”
A US military spokesman said there were too many unknowns to make precise plans. “We hope to get these organizations in fast, but there are so many things we don’t know. We’ve seen this guy (President Saddam Hussein) use biological and chemical attacks against his own people. There are so many variables.”
Aid agencies have urged US-led forces not to target roads and bridges which may be crucial to a relief operation. Hitting power plants could disable water supplies pumped by electricity.
