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Algiers blast shows aid workers seen as targets
Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:16am EST
By Peter Apps
LONDON (Reuters) - Tuesday's bomb attack outside
United Nations offices in Algiers is a sign that while
aid groups may be desperate to be seen as neutral,
relief workers are increasingly seen by attackers as a
fair target.
U.N. officials said the blast -- one of two bombings
in the Algerian capital that day by suspected al Qaeda
militants -- was a clear attack on the organization.
The bomb detonated in a street between the main U.N.
office and local headquarters of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
With at least 10 staff dead, it was the worst attack
on aid workers in more than a year.
The United Nations is frequently associated with the
actions of the permanent members of the Security
Council including the United States, and U.N. aid
agencies have sometimes borne the brunt of anger
against U.N. peacekeeping missions, for example in the
democratic Republic of Congo.
Aid groups including those in the UN system say they
strive to be neutral and help the victims of poverty,
natural disaster and conflict. But attacks, including
by Islamist militants, have soared since the 2003
invasion of Iraq.
"We have seen an increase in attacks that we feel are
politically motivated since 2003," Abby Stoddard, a
New York-based research associate of London's Overseas
Development Institute. "They are seen very much as
part of wider Western projects. The U.N. is
particularly at risk because of they are a political
as well as humanitarian body."
The Algiers blast was a grim echo of the 2003 bomb
attack on the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters that killed
22 people.
That attack and others in Iraq helped make 2003 the
bloodiest year for aid workers, with 87 dead.
This year 47 have been killed even before this blast,
below last year's total of 85. But more areas such as
Iraq have become almost entirely off-limits.
Tuesday's attack is likely to make agencies more
concerned about staff safety across the Middle East
and North Africa. The United Nations has already
ordered a security review.
TOO SIMILAR?
"I don't know that there is much they can do against
this," said Stoddard. "It's a very worrying move."
In Iraq, some aid workers say agencies did not do
enough to separate and distinguish themselves from the
U.S.-led coalition after the invasion. Many agencies
set up in Kuwait before the war began and effectively
followed the invaders up the road to Baghdad. Attacks
on them began shortly after.
"I think the mistake was to send in so many people so
fast on the back of an invasion force who looked just
like us," former UN aid chief Jan Egeland told Reuters
in September.
In Afghanistan, the dividing line between humanitarian
agencies and rebuilding program carried out by NATO
forces and the Afghan government can be hard to
define.
But it is not only a militant threat.
Experts say the most dangerous areas of the world for
relief work are regions such as Somalia, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan's Darfur
region, where stealing from aid workers is described
as almost an industry.
In Sri Lanka, where 17 local staff from Paris-based
group Action Contre la Faim (ACF) were gunned down
last year, many aid workers privately point the finger
at the government for repeated abductions and killings
of mainly ethnic Tamil relief workers. Officials deny
the charges, blaming Tamil rebels.
"Put simply, good people doing good things no longer
provides the protection it used to," said CARE
International head of security Bob Macpherson in June.
"Now, good people doing good things are seen as fairly
soft targets."
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---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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