Aid chief’s killing makes relief work ‘nearly impossible’

chief Margaret Hassan’s murder by her kidnappers in Iraq has underscored the difficulty for even seasoned relief workers to provide aid to Iraqis.

The 59-year-old’s death makes relief efforts “almost impossible” to carry out in Iraq, the EU said yesterday.

Poul Nielson, the EU’s departing development commissioner, condemned the shooting of Ms Hassan, who spent decades bringing food and medicine to Iraqis.

“This kind of savagery makes it almost impossible for relief agencies to continue their crucial work in Iraq,” he said.

The EC has committed €285 million in humanitarian and reconstruction aid for Iraq this year but has so far refused to send in its own aid workers to Baghdad, saying it cannot guarantee their safety.

“We are shocked by the murder of Margaret Hassan,” said Rana Sidani of the International Committee of the Red Cross. “For us the kidnapping and murder of Margaret Hassan demonstrates that it is very difficult for humanitarian workers to work in Iraq. They are under threat.”

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said Iraq is “a very dangerous place to work, unfortunately, for relief workers”.

Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned the killing as “a cowardly act”.

“Margaret Hassan devoted her life to helping Iraqis, and her murder, which sadly seems to have occurred, is indicative of the contempt in which her killers hold the people of Iraq,” Ms Arbour said

Other Iraqi and foreign hostages should be released immediately, she said.

“No political or religious cause can justify abductions, bombings and other criminal activities such as are being witnessed on a daily basis in Iraq,” she added.

The ICRC and WFP are only two of many relief organisations that have already drastically scaled back their operations in Iraq because of security concerns.

Like other UN agencies, WFP pulled its international staff out of Iraq after a deadly bomb attack on United Nations offices in Baghdad in August 2003.

The ICRC withdrew virtually all of its international staff after its Baghdad headquarters was attacked by a suicide bomber in October 2003, but has continued to visit some detainees of coalition forces and maintained some aid programmes for Iraqis.

“We would like to provide more assistance to the people affected by the conflict, but because of security constraints we’re not able to do it,” Ms Sidani said. “The victims of such action at the end are the Iraqi people, who are in need of vital support and who suffer from the consequences of such attacks against humanitarians.”