Humanitarian Organizations Prepare for War

As German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder continues to stand by his anti-war stance and EU leaders resolve to use force only as a “last resort” in the current Iraq crisis, humanitarian organizations in Germany are preparing for what they see as the worst case scenario.

Germany ready to provide humanitarian aid

With fears that a conflict in the Gulf will cause considerable deaths and severe damage to Iraq’s infrastructure as well as unleash a flood of refugees to neighbouring countries, the International Red Cross, including the German branch, has already begun stockpiling blankets, tents and non-perishable foodstuffs.

In Germany, volunteer aid workers are standing by. In Munich, the 12-strong team at “Muslime Helfen” -- an aid organization specifically set up to help Muslims in plight across the world -- has already sent a project worker to Iraq as part of their planning for providing humanitarian aid in the event of war. The agency-- set up in 1985 and which often works in cooperation with International Muslim Aid -- was part of a wave of German aid organizations and peace initiatives who travelled to Iraq in the past weeks.

But gaining access to Iraq cannot be taken for granted. “Of course it’s difficult in general to get into Iraq, but we managed it this time,” Muslime Helfen aid worker, Claudia Kreitl told DW-WORLD.

The German arm of the Red Cross -- “Rotes Kreuz” -- is also preparing to send volunteers to Iraq, where the organization has been active for over 20 years. “Of the 40,000 currently employed by the German Red Cross, 1,000 are trained for overseas aid work,” Rotes Kreuz spokesman, Lubbo Roawer, told DW-WORLD. In Afghanistan, around 30 Germans took part in the humanitarian aid effort after the ruling Taliban were ousted by Allied forces in 2001 and Roawer says it is likely that Germans will take part in any humanitarian efforts in Iraq.

But German aid workers to Iraq won’t go as German citizens, although the anti-war stance taken by the German government means that simply being German may make the aid worker’s job easier. “They wear a badge indicating they are part of the International Red Cross, otherwise it would raise problems with the neutrality of the International Red Cross,” he said. “(But) Germans are welcomed as aid workers there. I would imagine that if the head of the Red Cross delegation in Iraq was named, say ‘John Smith’ -- from a country which is one of the protagonists of the war -- then he’d probably be perceived as some kind of spy or something,” he said.

Civilians suffering under sanctions

Civilians in Iraq are suffering greatly according to aid agencies. Since U.N. sanctions were enforced against Iraq in 1990 when Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, goods which are deemed to have potential military uses are banned from entering the country.

“Even chlorine tablets are on the banned list,” Claudia Kreitl said. “It’s the first thing we take when we deliver aid to Iraq.” Chlorine is vital for making water drinkable in a country where sanitation is at best primitive. In Iraq, infant deaths and diarrhoea are rife.

War is not the answer

But although aid agencies agree that living under the Hussein regime has made life intolerable for many Iraqis, some do not believe that the U.S. strategy to remove the regime and install a new government is the long term answer in Iraq.

“You really have to ask yourself what the real motivation for this war is -- whether it’s really about freeing the Iraqi people from the Hussein regime” Kreitl said.

“There are plenty of other countries in which the situation is just as bad and you don’t find western countries saying they want to go and liberate them as well,” Kreitl said. “In Afghanistan, for example, you have to ask yourself, will the government that has been put in place hold fast in the long term? Often there is very little understanding of the completely different culture in these countries.”