Irish aid agencies get set to aid civilians

Irish aid agency GOAL has begun to move a team of aid workers into Kuwait and Jordan and will enter southern Iraq "as soon as it is safe to do so".

Two other aid agencies, Concern and Trócaire, are also planning their response to the humanitarian crisis which is expected to develop after the planned war in the region.

GOAL's emergency co-ordinator, Mr Ray Jordan, is already in Jordan and will move to Kuwait today, where he will wait until he can enter Iraq.

Dr Mary McLoughlin will travel to Kuwait at the weekend and will head up GOAL's medical work in Iraq. Dr McLaughlin has worked in Baghdad in the past and was living in the city when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

She said that while the safety of GOAL's workers would be of utmost concern in the weeks and months ahead, she and five others from the charity would enter southern Iraq even while air raids were continuing in the north.

The agency's shelter infrastructure co-ordinator, Mr Paul Kelly, will fly to Jordan in the coming days and three other workers would go to either Kuwait or Jordan with a view to entering Iraq as soon as possible.

"A lot of people are expected to flee to the south and we would hope to be there even if it means going in while there is war going on further north," Dr McLaughlin said.

GOAL would be "putting itself forward" to become a lead agency in one of the regions in the south of the country in an effort of provide clean water, shelter and medical treatment to those fleeing the conflict.

Officials from Trócaire will also travel to the region as early as this weekend. That organisation has been active in Iraq, through local agencies, for the last 12 years. Under its "emergency preparation plan", it will train medical staff, supply medical centres and ambulances and provide materials needed to maintain a clean water supply.

Meanwhile, peace activists were meeting in Limerick last night to discuss the possibility of re-establishing the Peace Camp at Shannon to protest at the continuing use of the airport by the US military.

Ms Kay White of the Midwest Alliance Against Military Action (MAAMA) said last night that the group would discuss reactivating the camp.

She said: "With the war in Iraq looming, a lot of us are feeling quite helpless. If the Peace Camp is to be re-established, its success will depend on how much people are willing to put into it."

Mr Ed Horgan of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) said yesterday the camp should be re-established.