MSF Expels Greek Branch Over Help for Serbia

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Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 15:37:47 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: MSF Expels Greek Branch Over Help for Serbia

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>

MSF Expels Greek Branch Over Help for Serbia



12:31 p.m. Oct 21, 1999 Eastern

Athens, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the medical
relief group which won the 1999 Nobel peace prize, has thrown out its
Greek branch for sending doctors to Serbia during the Kosovo war, a
local spokeswoman said on Thursday.

``MSF has expelled us for our action in Serbia. There were reactions
by the central offices to send in a team to Yugoslavia, but we decided
to go with it,'' Sofia Ioannou told Reuters.

She said the Greek team did nothing more than follow MSF's charter to
help warring sides regardless of their ethnicity.

``The expulsion is a blow to our organisation, but we don't have any
second thoughts,'' Ioannou said.

MSF said from its headquarters in Paris it had been ejected from
Yugoslavia, which is made up of Serbia and Macedonia, along with other
non-governmental organisations in July.

Belgrade subsequently said it would accept Greek doctors within a
government framework and four members of the Greek MSF joined an
official Greek contingent which went to Serbia.

The Greek move contravened MSF rules as the organisation never works
under governmental auspices in order to avoid compromising its
impartiality, the Paris office said.

Ioannou conceded that the Greek team had capitalised on traditional
friendly ties between Athens and Belgrade.

Greece was the only NATO country which opposed the Alliance's bombing
of Yugoslavia although it provided logistical support to NATO troops
heading for Kosovo.

Ioannou said the Greek group would continue to operate on its own as a
provider of relief.


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