A group of 31 South Africans who have volunteered to be human shields against a US-led war against Iraq, departed for Baghdad on Tuesday, amid tearful goodbyes and contempt for a looming invasion.
The group known as the Iraq Action Committee (IAC) left from Johannesburg International Airport for Jordan, where they were hoping to catch a plane to the Iraqi capital on Thursday night.
”Our spirits are very high, despite the war being only days’ away,” said Abie Dawjee, the head of the IAC, while relatives of the shields held up posters saying ”No blood for oil” and ”Son of a Bush”.
”We are going purely to defend civilan infrastructure like water towers, grain silos, schools and clinics,” Dawjee said. He added: ”It is the least we can do for a country that has been brought to its knees by the most vicious sanctions in the United Nations’ history and which is now about to be further crushed by a superpower.”
Most of the IAC volunteers are white-collar workers and students and are made up of Christians, Hindus and Muslims. Dawjee admitted the group was worried it would not get into Iraq before a war started.
”If we get to Iraq and the borders are closed, we will most likely make our way to Jordan where we will join aid groups who are helping Iraqi refugees,” he said.
The volunteers will be in Iraq for two weeks officially, but Dawjee said they would most likely be there for a month. Dawjee said the group were ”not at all” showing their support for Saddam Hussein.
”We are going because we want to be with the Iraqi people in their hour of need,” he said.
The IAC volunteers are paying up to $1 000 for a flight. One member of the group is 19-year-old Mduduzi Manana. He is black and runs his own events management company.
”I am not scared. I am going to protest oppression and injustice — freedom and justice are causes for which I am prepared to die.”
Ridwana Jooma (31) a legal consultant in Pretoria, said her mother and three sisters had pleaded with her not to be a human shield. All Jooma will take to Iraq is a small backpack with some T-shirts, a sleeping bag and a pair of jeans. Food will be supplied by the Iraqi government at the protest sites.
”I do not know where we will sleep. We are stepping into the complete unknown, which is a reason why this is so frightening,” she said. – Sapa