A Jordanian man who transported a group of 32 South African ”human shields” to the Iraqi border said on Thursday they had arrived in Iraq late on Wednesday night.
Abie Dawjee from the Iraq Action Committee and the rest of the group, among them lawyers and students, who volunteered to be human shields at selected sites in Iraq, left the country on Tuesday night with plans to get to Baghdad via Jordan.
Speaking from Amman on Thursday, Jordanian co-ordinator Zakarriya Al-Sheikh said he drove the group by bus from the Jordanian capital to the border at about 8.30pm (Jordanian/SA Time) on Wednesday.
”We arrived at the border at 11.30pm (Jordanian/SA Time) and then they were transported to a hotel in Baghdad which was another few hours drive where they will be provided with accommodation by the Iraqi government.”
The group were expected to have arrived in Baghdad around the time of the first attack on the city by the United States, using cruise missiles and bombs dropped by stealth bombers.
Al Sheikh said: ”Abie Dawjee was very frank with his group last night (Wednesday night) when we arrived at the border. He explained the situation to them once again and said there was a possibility that they would be killed or unable to go anywhere for a while so they had to make a final decision and cancel their mission or continue.
He said it was a very ”emotional time but the group was very courageous, and willing to proceed”.
Al-Sheikh also mentioned that he had received plenty of emails from the groups concerned families in South Africa. ‒ Sapa