Many Foreign NGOs Expected To Leave Iraq

8 September 2004 -- A coordinator for international aid agencies working in Iraq said today he expected that most of the nongovernmental organizations in the country would pull out after a wave of kidnappings of foreign workers by militants.

Jean-Dominique Bunel said he held talks with representatives from the foreign NGOs earlier in the day and those representatives indicated they were preparing to leave Iraq amid security fears.

Bunel said some NGO workers had already left this morning and all flights out of the country were booked through Friday.

Bunel's comments came one day after a group of gunmen seized two female Italian aid workers from their organization's Baghdad office.

The European Commission vowed to continue its work in Iraq and said it would keep providing funds to those organizations that choose to stay in Iraq.

(AFP/Reuters)