Red cross emblem misused during rescue

Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 10:07 am

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe acknowledged that his army used the Red Cross emblem in its bloodless July 2 rescue of 15 hostages, a move the humanitarian agency swiftly denounced as “abusive.”

Uribe allowed that one army official wore a vest with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) emblem but said that it was because the official was nervous about the operation and there were many leftist rebels on the scene.

So “the official took a piece of cloth out of his pocket with the initials CICR (ICRC) on it, and he put it on his vest; we are sorry that this has happened,” Uribe said yesterday, suggesting there was no effort at deception.

CNN television has reported seeing unpublished photos and video through a military source in which a military official is seen using the emblem of the international humanitarian organisation in what some said could be deemed a “war crime.”

Uribe said he presented his apologies to the ICRC on yesterday morning, but the Red Cross outrage over the incident was immediate.

“The emblem of the Red Cross needs to be respected in all circumstances and cannot be used in an abusive manner,” the ICRC said in a statement from Bogota.

In Geneva, ICRC spokeswoman Florian Westphal said:”The respect of the emblem is crucial so the ICRC can bring help to people affected by the conflicts in Colombia or elsewhere.”

Westphal said it was important that Uribe “had admitted the error that had been committed.” The organisation did not say whether it would take any action as a result of misuse.

Hours after the dramatic rescue of the hostages from the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s army commander General Mario Montoya publicly denied — in Uribe’s presence — that his men used emblems from the humanitarian organisation.

(Agencies)

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Red cross emblem misused during rescue

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