IRAQ

Guardian: Powell begs aid agencies to stay in Baghdad

Terrorists will win if humanitarian workers retreat, says secretary of state, as frontline charity pulls out its staff

Médecins sans Frontières, a frontline aid agency with a reputation for working in warzones where other agencies refuse to go, is to join the exodus of international workers from Baghdad despite a plea for it to stay from the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.

The withdrawal of MSF is a huge symbolic blow to US attempts to restore a semblance of normality to Baghdad and the rest of central Iraq. If the aid agencies judge central Iraq too dangerous to operate in, it will be even harder for Washington and London to persuade private companies to take up reconstruction contracts in the country. "Und genau das ist der Grund warum Hilfswerke angegriffen werden"