===================================================================== Military Goals 'Must Not Taint Postwar Aid' =====================================================================
Mistakes made after the US-led war in Afghanistan, where aid efforts were often confused with military goals, must be avoided at all costs in Iraq, a senior European aid official warned Monday, reports the Financial Times.
Poul Nielson, the European Union's commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, insisted that the United Nations should maintain its traditional role of coordinating the aid effort.
His concern is shared by non-governmental relief agencies, who say USAID, Washington's official aid agency, may attempt to lead the effort in any postwar reconstruction of Iraq.
"We experienced problems in Afghanistan," said Nielson, who is charged with managing an annual budget of about Euros 7 billion. Along with an additional yearly Euros 19 billion from the 15 member states, the EU contributes 55 percent of total global assistance.
"We saw bad cases of military personnel, wearing civilian clothes but armed, from the US and UK, delivering humanitarian assistance to villages but at the same time collecting information," Nielson said. "We (the Commission) reacted very badly against it and the British stopped participating in this."
In any US-led attack on Iraq, Nielson believes that humanitarian and aid agencies could come under pressure from the US military in how and where they enter Iraq and to which areas humanitarian assistance can be delivered.
"At issue is securing access, impartiality and neutrality of the humanitarian work," said Nielson. These, he added, were crucial to having access to populations as well as for the security of relief workers.
Meanwhile, aid charity Oxfam will refuse to accept government funds to finance its humanitarian work in Iraq if the UK goes to war, reports The Guardian (UK).
Oxfam says it wants to avoid being used as "an instrument of foreign policy" in the event of military action in Iraq, and has agreed an internal statement that commits it to preserving its impartiality. It follows increasing concerns among aid charities that state funding will bind them to US and UK military and political agendas on Iraq and compromise their ability to operate freely in the country.
The director of Oxfam GB, Barbara Stocking, said: "We won't work directly under military control. We must stay impartial and separate from any military forces."
Instead of accepting grants from the Department for International Development (DFID) during any fighting, the charity will rely on public donations, join in any Iraq appeal organized by charity umbrella group the Disasters Emergency Committee, and seek funds from the EU and UN.
Stocking said Oxfam's stance was not a criticism of other charities who were seeking DFID funds for Iraq work. "We haven't worked in Iraq since 1996 so we are in a rather different position than some other agencies which are there and already get funding," she said.