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CNN SHOWDOWN: IRAQ
Interview with Mary McClymont, CEO of Interaction, America's Largest Humanitarian Aid Alliance
Aired March 28, 2003 - 12:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: By sea and by ground, tons of food and relief supplies are moving into Iraq. Nearly 200 tons of humanitarian aid is being unloaded right now at the port of Umm Qasr, after a tense journey through waterways that had been mined.
Britain's royal fleet auxiliary, Sir Galahad, arrived about four hours ago; delayed a day because of the fear of mines and the fighting around Umm Qasr. Among the supplies being unloaded right now: food, water, medicine and blankets, some of it destined for people of Basra.
It's a delicate balance that sometimes requires the negotiating skills of a seasoned diplomat. We're talking about the relationship between the non-government organization community and the U.S. military in Iraq. And all the work it takes to actually get aid to the people.
Mary McClymont is the CEO of Interaction, which is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian non- governmental organizations. Mary, thanks for joining us. First of all, give us some perspective. How serious of a humanitarian crisis is there right now?
MARY MCCLYMONT, INTERACTION: Right now, Wolf, I would say that the humanitarian situation is very grave. It has not yet risen to the proportions that we have feared, not risen to the magnitude that we have feared. But that could very easily happen in the coming days and weeks, depending on any number of factors.
Those factors would include...
BLITZER : Well, what are the factors?
MCCLYMONT: Those factors would include displacement of people, which we haven't seen to a great degree yet. They would include the availability and the distribution of food that is necessary for the entire Iraqi population. And it also very fundamentally depends on the security of the environment.
As you know, many of the areas of the country are very insecure, and it would be difficult, if not impossible for humanitarian workers to operate in such environments. So that will be critical to sort through in the coming days.
BLITZER: I assume the biggest problem right now is in the southern part of Iraq, around Basra, outside of Umm Qasr, areas where there was some serious fighting, as opposed to the north or west? MCCLYMONT: Wolf, to date, we have understood that there is not great displacement of people in the south and center. There has been more displacement of people in the northern part of the country. But, of course, Basra is a major crisis.
As you well know, the water and electricity was cut off. The international committee of the Red Cross has been working valiantly to try to restore the water and electricity. But we understand it only reaches about 50 percent of the population now. And obviously there has been grave concern this morning around civilians.
So, yes, this is one of the emerging potential crises. It's already of a major proportion in terms of problem for civilians.
BLITZER: What kind of cooperation are you getting right now from the U.S. and British military who are, of course, fighting this war?
MCCLYMONT: Well, we have had, Wolf, in preparing for the war, in preparing our own contingency planning, we, the American NGOs, have been trying to speak with the military about problems that might arise. As you know -- and that has often been very difficult to do for us. As you know, it is very important for humanitarian workers to remain independent, to remain impartial.
And so it is critical for us to not allow blurring of distinctions of the work of the humanitarians in the field and the work of the military. It is crucial for our own safety, the humanitarians. It is also crucial to the people we help that have a trust relationship with them.
In addition, it is the military that should do the security work and the humanitarians that should do the relief work. So we need very importantly to keep these distinctions drawn.
Let me give you an immediate issue that has arisen. The military has indicated that it will be necessary for NGOs to have some form of identity card in order to be able to go into the country. This isn't an unreasonable request. The problem we're having is that this is an issue that really should have arisen with this in the course of our conversation with the U.S. government in recent weeks, and it should have raised at the time.
We had no idea it was going to be necessary to have these ID cards. The crux of the matter is there to ensure that these ID cards are different than the military's cards. We can't look like we're part of the coalition forces. We must have our own independent ID card. So this is something we're trying to sort out now at the humanitarian operations center in Kuwait, on the ground.
BLITZER: It sounds like it's going to a huge job, only going to get more difficult in the days, weeks and presumably months to come.
Mary McCylmont, thanks very much for joining us.
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