Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Iraqi Red Crescent Pulls Out of Fallujah
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society withdrew from the battleground city of Fallujah today amid concerns over continuing insecurity, the organisation’s chief said.
US-led forces later detained eight men unaffiliated with the aid group who had sought shelter in the group’s building.
Saad Hakki said coalition forces asked the group to withdraw “temporarily” from its building in Fallujah. The neighbourhood where it is located has seen sporadic fighting since a campaign by American and Iraqi forces last month to uproot insurgents operating in the city.
He said the Red Crescent’s seven employees in Fallujah hoped to return soon.
“The Red Crescent pulled out for security reasons,” Hakki said. “Maybe, we will return tomorrow, maybe the day after. We don’t know,” he said.
A US military spokeswoman, Maj. M. Naomi Hawkins, confirmed the group’s departure, but said it had chosen to leave the city on its own.
Coalition forces escorted Red Crescent staff members from the city and later detained eight military aged men who sought shelter in the building along with dozens of other Iraqis following the launch of the coalition military operation against Fallujah.
The Red Crescent, sister organisation to Geneva’s Red Cross, set up operations in Fallujah two weeks ago to assist Iraqis civilians who had stayed behind during the fighting.
US-led forces are still battling pockets of resistance in Fallujah, but it is mostly under control of US and Iraqi troops. Hakki said there had been recent ”skirmishes” near the Red Crescent’s base in the city, located 40 miles west of Baghdad.
It was not immediately clear what effect the Red Crescent’s withdrawal will have on Fallujah, a city of about 300,000 people, most of whom fled before the US-led military operation started.
Many Iraqis have complained that the military onslaught against the city destroyed infrastructure and led to a deteriorated humanitarian situation in the city. Some 1,500 protesting Fallujah residents displaced by the fighting demanded today that the government return them to their homes.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3846173
Saad Hakki said coalition forces asked the group to withdraw “temporarily” from its building in Fallujah. The neighbourhood where it is located has seen sporadic fighting since a campaign by American and Iraqi forces last month to uproot insurgents operating in the city.
He said the Red Crescent’s seven employees in Fallujah hoped to return soon.
“The Red Crescent pulled out for security reasons,” Hakki said. “Maybe, we will return tomorrow, maybe the day after. We don’t know,” he said.
A US military spokeswoman, Maj. M. Naomi Hawkins, confirmed the group’s departure, but said it had chosen to leave the city on its own.
Coalition forces escorted Red Crescent staff members from the city and later detained eight military aged men who sought shelter in the building along with dozens of other Iraqis following the launch of the coalition military operation against Fallujah.
The Red Crescent, sister organisation to Geneva’s Red Cross, set up operations in Fallujah two weeks ago to assist Iraqis civilians who had stayed behind during the fighting.
US-led forces are still battling pockets of resistance in Fallujah, but it is mostly under control of US and Iraqi troops. Hakki said there had been recent ”skirmishes” near the Red Crescent’s base in the city, located 40 miles west of Baghdad.
It was not immediately clear what effect the Red Crescent’s withdrawal will have on Fallujah, a city of about 300,000 people, most of whom fled before the US-led military operation started.
Many Iraqis have complained that the military onslaught against the city destroyed infrastructure and led to a deteriorated humanitarian situation in the city. Some 1,500 protesting Fallujah residents displaced by the fighting demanded today that the government return them to their homes.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3846173
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$230.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
"Multinational forces asked the IRC to withdraw from Fallujah for security reasons and until further notice," the organisation's spokeswoman Ferdus al-Ibadi told AFP.
Ibadi, speaking in Baghdad, had said earlier that the agency left of its own free will, but she said she was only informed after the IRC left the city that it had been told to do so by US marines.
The IRC distibuted food, water and blankets to around 1,500 people in the city, whose population was around 300,000 before a massive assault by US-led forces began on November 8.
"We went today to Karma and in two days' time we will visit refugees in other places around the city," said Ibadi, referring to a town about five kilometres (three miles) north of Fallujah.
The US military said the IRC had requested a military escort out of the city, and that it had secured the organisation's headquarters immediately afterwards.
"All military-age males in the IRC building were properly vetted and approximately eight were detained," said US Marine Major M. Naomi Hawkins.
The US military had since Thursday been interviewing military-age males who came to the IRC for food aid as well as testing them for gun powder, a potential sign of insurgent activity, an AFP correpondent said.
The marines confirmed that they had cordoned off the building on Thursday when they began vetting males.
There had been friction between the IRC and the US military as the agency was prevented from distributing aid throughout the city.
12/05/2004 16:14 GMT - AFP
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=34640
The Iraqi Red Crescent (IRC), which has worked with Marines to distribute food, water and medical supplies to citizens remaining in Falluja, is suspending its work for two days because of security searches to be conducted in the same area where the organization set up its headquarters, said Anas Akram Mohammad, director of the group's disaster management unit.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/05/iraq.redcrescent/index.html