Three South African ”human shields” will return home from Iraq on Tuesday while five others have moved to a refugee camp on the Jordan-Iraq border, their Durban travel agent said.
Yunus Osman said M Manana, M I Suliman and M Bayat would land at Johannesburg International Airport aboard an Air Egypt flight at 10am.
The three and five others left Baghdad — where they had volunteered to serve as human shields — due to family pressures and for personal reasons.
The five were identified as A Davids, A A Patel, M Peer, N A Collins and Farouk Mohamed. Osman said the group, which included a doctor, had gone to assist people at the border refugee camp. About 30 South Africans left the country last Tuesday night with plans to get to Baghdad via Jordan. They arrived in Baghdad on
Thursday.
Speaking to Sapa from Baghdad, a ”human shield” from the Iraq Action Committee and Durban businessman Mohammed Variawa said the eight had left with their blessing.
He said the 24 human shields remaining in Baghdad were being placed voluntarily at three sites in Baghdad. ”We have been going to a water purification site, an oil
refinery site and an electricity site.”
He said there were intense bombings over the weekend, particularly on Friday night. Civilian sites were also being bombed. Describing the mood of the Iraqi people, Variawa said: ”There is a great feeling of hatred towards the Americans… People are not happy with this situation and the proportions with which the war is continuing.”
Osman said this group was scheduled to return home on March 31. He had no date for the return of the five at the border refugee camp. – Sapa