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AID WORKERS are at risk for malaria, typhoid, even HIV, But these illnesses, along with land mines, plane crashes
and stray bullets, are occupational hazards that MSF volunteers are prepared to confront. What they're far less willing to accept is the trend to target aid workers
specifically, singling them out for abdcution or even excecution. Today this is the greatest threat to aid workers in the field, largely because Western
governments have blurred the line-- often intentionally -- between military and humanitarian interventions. When Colin Powell talked about
nongovermental organisations(NGOs) being "such an important part of our combat team" in Afganistan and Tony Blair referred to military actionthere
having "three fronts : military, diplomatic and humanitarian," they reinforced the idea that aid organisations are their partners rather than independent actors.
" The United States has had military people on the ground in Afganistan who dress in T-shirts and drive around in white Land Cruisers," says Kenny Gluck, director of operations for MSF-Holland. "It seemed to us that they were trying to imitate aid workers. It's muddied the waters in which we have to work. We're not trying to rebuild the country. All we're trying to do is keep people alive."
Published: December 05, 2006