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Aid workers demand protection
07/08/2006 11:20 - (SA)
Kallar - Tired and hungry aid workers labour ceaselessly in crowded refugee camps on the edge of Sri Lanka's conflict zone amid the thundering sound of artillery.
Their steely resolve gives hope to nearly 30 000 people displaced by heavy fighting between Tiger rebels and government forces, but news that 15 of their colleagues were killed has outraged them to a point that they are now demanding protection.
"This is plainly a crime, not only to us but to those we serve," said Guy Hovey, head of delegation for the US-based United Methodist Committee on Relief which has been working to evacuate people since the fresh conflict began.
The killings of 15 employees of French agency Action Against Hunger (ACF) is an atrocity that could complicate efforts to bring aid to some 5 000 people trapped in the town of Muttur.
More than 425 people have been killed in the latest round of fighting according to an official count.
'We can't operate if we are attacked'
"We're non-combatants and we can't operate if we are attacked. We would like some form of security guarantee or safe passage," from both sides, Hovey told AFP as his staff tended to scores of children and women under a makeshift tent in Kallar, 20km south of Muttur.
"We have a humanitarian duty to remain and help the people. We will remain until we are effective," he said, but stressed that if there was another security breakdown "we may pull out".
Hovey's group of 20 volunteers are trying to work on bringing food and aid to some 5 000 people believed still remaining in Muttur, which came under attack from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) trying to cut off a military supply routes.
The fighting erupted on July 26 when war planes bombed suspected Tiger positions in a bid to force the rebels to lift their blockade of an irrigation canal that was denying water to some 15 000 farming families downstream
'Aid workers should not be harmed or killed'
Aid workers who managed to enter Muttur have reported finding the bodies of the 15 ACF staffers. It was not clear how they were killed, and the deaths were the first in the agency's 25-year history.
"Aid and relief workers should not be harmed or killed. We are a neutral force. We are bringing help to these people," said Ahmad Raslan from the Islamic Red Crescent medical agency.
"We have tried time and again going to Muttur by road, we heard there are still people there. We just couldn't get to them," he said. "There are still dead bodies there and some people left behind needing help.
"We are not afraid to help, but we also demand that there is some form of guarantee we will not be harmed. We are trying to do our humanitarian work, we can't do that if we come under attack," he stressed.
- AFP
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