Humanitarian aid in Iraq: pessimism is in order…
(B2) For Paul Filler, head of the office of the European Humanitarian Aid Office in Iraq, pessimism is in order. The situation is not improving. On the contrary...
The man is discreet, not very talkative, in a word prudent. Paul Filler is the Head of Office of Echo, the European Humanitarian Aid Office, in Iraq. Or rather in Jordan because, for several months, this organization which reports directly to the European Commission, present in Iraq since… 1992, has withdrawn most of its international staff to Amman, Jordan. So only the local staff remains on site, in an office in Baghdad whose address is carefully kept secret… for security reasons! Europeans venture there at too rare times. “It's very difficult for all our partners in the field: the NGOs, the International Red Cross… We have to be very imaginative, very flexible to continue working”. A “totally new situation” he assures. “Usually, we deal with the emergency and, once the basic needs have been met, the reconstruction begins. Here in Iraq, we have to deal with both at the same time”. With additional difficulty. “The situation is constantly changing. It is very difficult to predict the needs”. And above all a problem that turns to obsession: “security”. A concern that is not about to go away. Because the situation is getting worse. “It is even more difficult in recent months to act. Danger is everywhere. The military forces but also the criminality which is developing”. And confusion reigns between the humanitarian and the military. Some coalition troops carrying out humanitarian actions towards the population. “Which sows great confusion” and explains
perhaps why some NGO members are targeted. For the future, pessimism seems in order. “It's hard to imagine that things could improve tomorrow,” admits Paul Filler. The only way out, according to him: “peace. It all depends on that. Let peace return and then, pfouf, everything will return, there are no more emergency problems and we can really tackle reconstruction”.
