Security risks in Iraq frustrate relief effort

National Catholic Reporter, June 6, 2003

VATICAN CITY: As relief organizations gear up long-term operations in Iraq, they are being frustrated by rampant lawlessness and looting, an official of Caritas Internationalis said. "Unless the security issue is resolved, there will be no resumption of social life and it will be difficult to implement relief programs," said Karel Zalenka, head of the International Cooperation Department at Caritas headquarters at the Vatican.

"Right now, Iraqi people are afraid to come to our centers, and our own workers' fear being attacked," he said. Zalenka spoke in an interview May 27 after returning from a five-day visit to Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. Caritas Internationalis is an international confederation of Catholic charitable organizations.

Zalenka said he found that damage from the war was not as heavy as predicted, but that destruction from looting was massive. The disintegration of civil security in Baghdad and other large cities is thwarting humanitarian efforts, he said.

He said two Caritas convoys, each carrying more than $300,000 worth of medical and food supplies, recently went overland to Baghdad. The first made it through without incident, but the second was stopped in a Baghdad suburb and partially looted before soldiers were found to escort it to a guarded Caritas warehouse.