Insurgency forcing aid agencies out of Noth East India

[Guest guest]

Insurgency forcing aid agencies out of N-E

IANS [ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER

28, 2003 03:10:26 PM ]

GUWAHATI: Continuing separatist insurgency and ethnic unrest in the North-East

is scaring away foreign donors keen to invest money to battle AIDS and drug

addiction in the region.

An Australian funding agency was the latest to back out of a major anti-AIDS and

drug de-addiction campaign in Manipur - the estimated project was about Rs 40

lakh.

" The project was almost through when there was an unfortunate incident of a

German aid worker being kidnapped by some rebels in Manipur, " a health ministry

spokesman said over telephone from Imphal. " The abduction prompted the

Australian group to back out of the project, " he said. Tribal separatists in

March abducted Heinrich Wolfgang, a Bonn-based aid worker, while he was on his

way to oversee a community development programme on the outskirts of Imphal

funded by a German agency. Wolfgang was released after 17 days in captivity.

But his kidnapping has sparked off panic among other humanitarian organisations

likely to work in the region's health sector. " We are ready to provide all

support and security cover to anybody willing to come and work in the health

sector, " Manipur Health Minister Chalton Lien Amo said. Almost a year after the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 million to fight AIDS in India,

no funds have been released for the North-East although a substantial amount was

earmarked for the region. " A disturbed security situation does affect

health campaigns and scares international aid agencies. It is indeed very sad, "

said Annie Mangsatabam, secretary of the Integrated Women and Children

Development Centre, a frontal community healthcare group in Manipur. " It is our

own people who are suffering and will continue to suffer if we don't get funds

and other help, " she said.

The North-East lies on the edge of the heroin-producing Golden Triangle of Laos,

Myanmar and Thailand. Independent estimates have put the number of regular

intravenous drug users in the region at up to 300,000. At least half of whom are

believed to be HIV-positive.

There are at least 30 separatist groups active in the seven north-eastern states

with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the right to

self-determination. " In a conflict region, it becomes difficult at times for our

workers to reach interior areas to help HIV-AIDS victims, " says Banta Singh,

president of the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNPP). MNPP is a group

engaged in counselling people in Manipur living with HIV-AIDS. A number of

proposals from other regional states seeking international funding to fight AIDS

and drugs in the northeast have been turned down in recent years, citing

security reasons. " We need to build up a consensus and create an atmosphere

where foreign agencies and aid workers don't hesitate to come and work, " said S

I Ahmed, head of the Assam AIDS Prevention Society. According to Indian

officials, some 4.58 million Indians were living with HIV at the end of 2002, a

significant leap from 3.97 million in the previous year.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?

msid=206078

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

Such a sad story that even rebels can't understand that HIV/AIDS is as big a

problem to them as it is to their opposition.

I still didn't get to Imphal but I got as close as Guwaharti in Assam and I

guess in that location their seemed to be some capacities and a police force

that offers possibilities. Maybe the line needs to be moved a bit and at the

same time some negotiations with rebel groups to try to get a sense of this

process being for the benefit of both groups.

Imphal folks please don't give up. Banta please tell us what you think might

work better. Timidity is understandable but for every problem there is a

solution just waiting to be found.

Please keep up the writing so we know what is going on. Africa also has it's hot

spots but there is a resolve to work through them for a solution.

Geoffrey

E-mail:<gheaviside@...>