Red Cross to close Basra and Baghdad offices

The International Red Cross has announced that it is temporarily closing much of its operation in Iraq.

"We decided that in view of an extremely dangerous and volatile situation that we would have to temporarily close our offices in Baghdad and Basra," said Florian Westphal, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Mr Westphal confirmed the decisions disclosed by ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger in an interview in the Swiss daily newspaper Tages-Anzeiger of Zurich.

"We are temporarily closing our offices in Baghdad and Basra, but maintaining a presence in the north," said Westphal.

"This decision has to be seen in the context that we clearly decided against seeking any military protection for buildings or staff."

Westphal declined "for security reasons" to go into details about how much the decision would affect the work of some 30 foreign staffers and 600 Iraqis who work for the Swiss-run, neutral ICRC.

He said the ICRC continued to plan to reduce the number of foreign staff because of the suicide bombing of the agency's Baghdad headquarters, "but we will maintain a presence of expatriates".

"The situation is so tense on the ground that we don't want to get into details," Westphal said.

He said the ICRC had received no direct threat but made its decision on the basis of "an overall assessment of the situation".