Soldiers of mercy
THE BOARD of directors of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS), headed by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, has decided to start extending humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq and will begin accepting cash donations to buy the necessary medicine and medical supplies to send to Iraq. Mrs Mubarak announced the launching of the effort on Sunday when she inaugurated new expansion works to the ERCS's branch at Al-Nahda City, an urban community development project set up by ERCS for the rehabilitation of the 1992 earthquake victims. The project has become a model developmental initiative lauded by international institutions.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health will buy the medical supplies and the ERCS will deliver them to Iraq with the help of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross currently present in Iraq as well as the Egyptian ambassadors to Syria and Jordan.
In another development, Mrs Mubarak, who heads Egypt's National Council for Women, sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on behalf of the women of Egypt calling for an end to the suffering of the women and children of Iraq. She appealed to Annan to work immediately to "curb the scope of war" and to move quickly "to put an end to this tragedy and achieve peace based on equality and justice among the nations of the Middle East region, without exception".
Mrs Mubarak said that in these trying times, amidst the painful events the Arab world is witnessing, everyone is looking to the ERCS as a source of relief and mercy that provides help not only in Egypt and the Arab world but in other countries as the need arises.
"The ERCS has stood beside our Palestinian brothers and sisters, as they heroically resisted the occupation, by continuing to send them humanitarian aid supplies," Mrs Mubarak said. "And here it is today preparing to extend a helping hand to yet another Arab country facing a ferocious war that is claiming dozens of civilian casualties every day."
The secretary-general of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies met with Mrs Mubarak in Cairo last week to plan for the provision of relief aid to Iraq.
