Coalition 'not providing enough security for aid agencies'

Coalition forces are not doing enough to provide security to aid agencies working in Iraq, the director of Oxfam said today.

Barbara Stocking said it was “not good enough” that her staff were still at high risk in the country.

The US and Britain had a legal responsibility to ensure security in Iraq.

Until a few days ago aid workers had to make short trips into Iraq and could not stay over night because of the dangers still posed in the country, Ms Stocking said.

“At the moment it’s very high risk for our staff to be in Iraq ... that’s not good enough,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“We need the coalition forces to provide the security, and we need them also to do something about the mines and the unexploded ordnance that there is around.”

The United Nations should be handed control of humanitarian operations and organising the political future of Iraq, Ms Stocking said.

But coalition forces should remain in the country to protect major aid routes into Iraq, including the road from the Jordanian capital Amman to Baghdad.

There were reports of children being killed or injured by unexploded mines on that route, Ms Stocking said.

“The occupying power has to provide the security and they are not. That’s their legal obligation under the Geneva Conventions.

“We then want the UN to deliver the humanitarian aid along with us.

“Nobody’s doubting that this is a very difficult situation to handle and to do comprehensively, but it needs a lot more drive to get that done.

“After all if the coalition went in then it has to take that responsibility for doing so.”