L'Economiste: Red Crescent, Red Cross federation refuses delivery of humanitarian aid by allied forces

Secretary general of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent federation, Didier Cherpitel, said it is "indecent" that the same soldiers who are killing civilians in Iraq are helping their victims.

The confusion between humanitarian work and war is inadmissible, he said, because those are two completely different things, the Federation secretary general, who started on Monday a visit to Morocco, told "L'Economiste" daily.

"We are indignant over the delivery of humanitarian aid by the allied forces," he said explaining that the humanitarian work is completely neutral and independent.

Asked about refugees camps opened for Iraqis, Cherpitel said thousands of Iraqis have left the city of Basra but they have not crossed the borders and are still in Iraq.

The Federation secretary general went on that his organization had appealed for more than 70 million dollars to help a 250,000 Iraqi refugees who were expected in four neighboring countries (Iran, Jordan, Syria and Turkey), but to date, he stated, the camps are almost empty.