Culture and quality tourist services

By Kalyan Bhandari

Culture makes a great difference to tourists’ perception of a service, quality and ultimately their level of satisfaction. In a survey conducted last year, "friendly Nepali people" was perceived by 39 percent of the total package tourists as the experience they liked most in Nepal whereas only 14 percent of the tourists from India, in the category of package tourists, mentioned "friendly Nepali people" as an experience they liked most. There may be three reasons for this. One, Indian tourists are not honorably treated vis-a-vis foreign tourists. Two, for the Indian tourists, the friendliness and smiling behaviour takes a least priority on their decision about the perception of any destination. And three, the friendliness of our people was not of significant value to Indian taste.

The above result also construes that the western culture may have found the ‘friendly and smiling’ nature of our people to be exceptionally remarkable and fantastic in comparison to the Indian tourists, who, because of similar socio-cultural background, have been used to this kind of behavior, found it to be of nothing new, which might have influenced their views.

This also holds true for improving our tourism service quality. When we talk of providing a quality to the tourists, the culture makes a great impact on the perception of the service quality. Tourism is a cross-cultural activity carried out in a multi-cultural setup. Both, the receiver and the giver, of the tourism services, have their own socio-cultural backgrounds. The intangible expectation of the tourists needs to be fulfilled to match the intangible cultural affinity he posses. Thus, due to the intangible nature of the tourism business, it becomes difficult to customize the service to cater to the tourists who themselves are from various socio-cultural background and so do their values, beliefs and attitudes. Service providers have, thus, the task of customizing his service with each individual’s cultural background to meet his or her expectation fulfilled.

The quality should be compatible to meet the variety of demands of the tourists with limited offerings to make sure they get the best of their expectations. This becomes entirely an exhaustive exercise where our own cultural tradition and values need to be kept intact. This is where acculturation takes its form to influence one’s native culture to make it more vulnerable to western influence and leads to the commodification of culture. Any vulnerability to our culture has direct consequences on the neighbouring countries’ nature, ecology and environment, given our greater dependency on the nearby natural resources.

Maintaining tourists’ satisfaction greatly depends on the kind of expectation he brings with him. This means, the expectation that is created in his or her own country greatly affects the tourists’ perception of any destination. Thus, a trustworthy relationship between the tourists and the service provider of his or her own country plays a major role in influencing the overall perception of the destination. In case of package tours, the hotels or the travel agencies that handle the trip provide all the services a tourist consumes during a trip in Nepal. Thus, a perception of service quality, in this case, refers, more to that of the hotel he is staying or the food outlet he is being taken to. The service, in this case, should thus be compatible with the kind of assurances he or she has been in his own country. This requires a greater understanding and trust between the two agencies that are making the deal to make people feel worthy of the tours they have been taken to and services they have been catered to.

When we talk of improving the quality of our services, it, thus, refers to improving our attitudes and making ourselves more compatible to the needs of the multicultural tourists, besides working on improving and enhancing the quality of the products itself. Because the service that is sufficient to make western tourists feel good, no doubt, could make the Indians happier. But our style of catering to the need of Indian needs some improvement, not because of its quality, but because of our general perception of tourists as a homogeneous entity. The utilities, that are especially meant for tourists, are, more or less, made, keeping in view, the taste of western tourists. But the multicultural nature of tourism activities makes it a heterogeneous unit. The existing infrastructure itself is adequate but some adjustments may be required to make it compatible with the growing need of the Indian tourists as well. This may not apply to the entire tourism establishment but only to the few areas.

Indians comprise almost the one-third of our whole tourism arrivals by air. The unaccounted surface arrivals may even swell the actual arrivals more than the anticipated level. The cultural affinity between our people has been bearing fruits in attracting pilgrimage and other tourists to our country. But, on making a strong perception of the destination and its people, it still isn’t in our favor vis-a-vis third country tourists. Thus, we need to especially take tourism activities as a heterogeneous unit and strive to make our service quality equally worthy to all the tourists irrespective of their origin.

The unpublished news

By BIRAJ KARMACHARYA

In a rainy evening while returning from my work, heavy down pour forced me to enter a nearby restaurant. As I ordered some eatables, I saw two little children, poorly clad, entering the restaurant hurriedly. It was obvious that the rain had made them to do so. Soaked thoroughly, the poor little creatures looked around. One was a girl of about ten and another was a boy of about six. I guessed both were brother and sister. Their lean bodies peeping through the torn clothes were clearly showing their identities. The girl had a few copies of evening city tabloids on her hands. She had meticulously saved the papers from getting drenched. And I had noticed that the first thing that they did after entering was to check the papers. Both were quite glad that the papers were dry.

Then suddenly they started shouting aloud — "Ajako taja khabar. Das jana Maobadi mariye. Ajako taja khabar. Diunsai Kathmanduma lutiyo. Ajako taja khabar…… (Today’s breaking news - 10 Maoists killed... daylight robbery in Kathmandu...)". The sudden role-play that they performed was marvellous. It showed me they were really bothered with the happenings in the country and wanted other people read about the problems. But nobody paid any heed to them. The young guys and girls, having fun in a warm and cosy atmosphere, were not keen to buy the evenings. The incidents hardly mattered them because such news have become common for the people here.

More than the news and the paper, I was interested in knowing them more. I could see disappointment in their faces. Now, they moved towards the nearby tables, pleading the people to buy the two-rupee paper. Some just didn’t react, while some made fun of them. Some even scolded them. Perhaps they were very used to such behaviour, so they tolerated the humiliation. They were virtually begging to sell their papers. In between, I could see them glancing the delicious dishes spread on the tables, and then drifting their view back to the customers. I bought their paper and that was their only income there—a two-rupee note.

By that time a waiter came and shouted at them to which they tried to ignore. The waiter was visibly angry and caught their arms and dragged them out. The rain hadn’t stopped yet. In a crowded space under the roof of the same restaurant, they adjusted themselves, holding evening papers against their chests. They watched the cruel sky and, with unspoken words, consoled each other for what happened and eagerly waited for the rain to stop.

I got my order served. As I looked out, I saw the rain had almost stopped. Their faces brightened and, with the same energy, ran in the street shouting aloud- "Ajako taja khabar. Ajako taja khabar..." I listened to them as long as I heard. The voices slowly faded away.

Something hurt me inside. I felt that the hot news of the day was not yet published in the newspaper— not even in other newspapers. The hot news of the day were running in the streets—soaking in the rain, sweating in the sun, shivering in the cold. The news was not published - not published anywhere – they were just wandering in the streets—wandering pitifully in the streets.

Crisis is not over

By ACHUT GAUTAM

The cease-fire, sans joint communique, declared by the government and the Maoists, has been accepted by the people at large as an encouraging indicator towards ensuring a lasting peace. "A work well begun is half done," commented a youth, with gratification after hearing the announcement of the cease-fire through media. This youth had lost both of his parents in a cross fire during the fierce conflict between the government troops and the Maoists. "It should have occurred earlier," he added.

As the result of relentless battle between the Maoists and the government security forces, in the last seven years the country has literally been ripped apart. Apart from the death toll exceeding eight thousand and loss of property in billions, the mass exodus of rural population to neighboring country from consequential fear and trauma has emptied numerous dwellings. Not to mention the disrupted social fabric, the dwindling economy and collapsed service sector, the national sovereignty and integrity are at stake. Indeed, it’s a welcome sign that the agonizing violence has been halted, at least for the time being. The present cease-fire, however, must unfold into an enduring truce and the concerned must reckon with the need of time.

The CPN (UML) along with all the democratic parties see the present cease-fire as the manifestation of sudden and unprecedented event despite the government’s torturous exercise of making it appear as a normal political achievement of highest implication resulting from months of unremitting endeavour. If the latter is true, it becomes the obligation of the government to present the concrete plan of action that has ushered the present status of cease-fire and the actions to be taken hereafter. The all-out confusion within the government machinery fails to support its rhetoric. The fact is, preparedness lacks, mystification and stupefaction overrule. Wishful thinking rarely materialise.

Transparency and openness with a firm belief on positive results are the driving forces of enduring truce. When we speak of transparency, it involves both the parties negotiating with unwrapped, open agenda where the public composes its view as the dialogues proceed. Within this process, openness is a crucial factor that promotes the worn out trust intensifying the unifying components. The final goal being nothing but enduring truce, both the warring factions must be committed to achieving this end. The people form the fundamental force motivating and pressurising the concerned parties to participate actively throughout the process as long as the final agreement remains unresolved and peace does not prevail. Guns and war paints alone cannot accomplish a lasting peace and ruling out the people from the process may simply compound the tragedy even further.

The present government formed by the King after the royal proclamation of October 4 cannot be recognised. It is illegitimate, unconstitutional and undemocratic. All the major political parties of the land agree to this view. Though enduring peace aspired by every citizen is the want of the nation today, it is beyond the capacity of the present unpopular government limited to the quarters of Singha Darbar to lead the juvenile process into a lasting truce. Political problems need to be dealt with by political parties rather than by non-representational and abstract group of people blessed as ministers. Political excellence and quality leadership assures deliverance along with accomplishing affirmative results. It apparently is paradoxical for the present government to precede the process beyond its comprehension. A failure is eminent and catastrophe is inevitable unless the Chand-led government develops competitive caution, secures preparedness and builds efficiency, which we have not seen to date.

The engagement of political parties in the peace process is indispensable not only because they represent the people, but also because the present government is a non-elected one lacking in legitimacy and the mandate to marshal the process. The involvement of a foreign independent third party suitable and acceptable to the geo-political circumstances, be it some sort of an organisation or a country, into the process has been declined by the government, for it knows what others don’t! Brokering or facilitating the process appears unwanted! The men in the Cabinet possess the wisdom not to realise the gravity of an impartial third party during such a complicated process. The government’s agreeing to the preliminary demands of the Maoists is a welcome sign, but the target is yet very remote as tied up issues need to be sorted out as the process advances and unforeseen specifics unfold. Equating this, it is clear that without having a reliable third party brokering each and every details to micro levels, things don’t appear that promising.

It needs to be stressed that the exhausting attempt of alienating the popular political parties from the peace process can be equated with the act of conspiracy against the very process in every sense. If the king’s proclamation and the actions of the government thereafter had not been indulged in creating the third dissenting force, thereby promoting a vertex of colliding triangular forces, the objective of insuring an enduring peace would have been at arms’ reach. As evidenced by the fact nothing today has been upright and everything tucked away and transparency rejected. Secret meetings, conspiracies and lies should never prevail as the dominating features of government. Plots and conspiracy though frequent, as dal bhat in Nepali politics, the choice of modality exercised by the extreme rightist forces at present is perplexing. Is the anticipated enduring peace the want of the extreme? Instead, on the reverse, is this act just a drama or a kind of rehearsal to something further unprecedented? If not, instead of alienation, why not seek the policy of coordination and harmonisation of all political parties and concerned organisations throughout the peace process beginning from today.

The CPN (UML) and the Nepali Congress being the foremost parties possess the responsibility of highest level with other constitutional political parties bearing their responsibilities as well. Needless to reiterate, only an all-party government suits the purpose and all those concerned need to surrender their ego and self-interest and proceed to work for the permanent solution to the crisis rocking the nation today.

(The author is with the International Department of CPN-UML)

A case against war

ANIL PANICKER

After each war there is a little less democracy to save - Once Around the Sun, 1951

Way back in 1946, in the February 10 edition of the New York Times, David Low, respected practitioner of peace, while analysing the dangers of entering into a war wrote, " I have never met anyone who wasn’t against war. Even Hitler and Mussolini were, according to themselves."

War is once again looming large over the horizon. Despite UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix reporting back that he has not found any shred of evidence of weapons of mass destruction anywhere in Iraq, the administration of President George W Bush is unrelenting and planning ahead to attack Iraq and bring its ‘autocratic’ president Saddam Hussein to his knees.

Turning a deaf ear to the millions of sane voices emanating from different quarters from all over the world, the United States has begun preparing for a long drawn out war, that if it takes place, will have disastrous consequences on almost all parts of the globe.

Bush has been harping that Iraq under Saddam Hussein is a danger to the US. Dick Cheney even called Saddam a "mortal threat." Tell us, Mr Bush, in what manner does Iraq, which has a military budget of Rs 4 billion pose a threat to the US, which has a military budget of a whopping $400 billion?

Even if for argument’s sake, if we were to believe that Iraq did indeed have in its possession a couple of nukes, how would that compare to the might of the US which has in its possession thousands of nuclear weapons? So if it is not security then what is it that keeps US from not flirting in the Gulf? The obvious answer would be oil.

Is US eyeing Iraq’s 112 billion barrels of oil reserves? Experts estimate Iraq’s oil revenue totals over $20 billion a year. But the US is quick to defend this charge too? It has strongly denied that it is hell bent on attacking Iraq to capture the country’s massive oil wealth.

White House mandarins hope that once they bring down Saddam with a $50 million exercise that calls for a US-led military occupation, they can get on to quickly establish a new look Iraq, which will sport a multi-ethnic government operating under the umbrella of a democratic constitution with free and fair polls.

But what they fail to read is the resultant consequences of this war? Isn’t this war, if it ever takes places, unconstitutional? Isn’t it against international tenets? These are the questions being posed by a lot of countries that are hell bent on stopping any action against Iraq.

Would it not go against the very grain of the Christian doctrine of what constitutes a "just war?" Wouldn’t this mindless unilateralism of Bush further aggravate and scar US relations with its allies?

And what would be the fate of the regions populated by Muslims, where of late there has been nothing but destruction and deaths? Closer home for the US, any tango in Iraq will boomerang on the US economy, which is tottering of late.

And what about the human body count? Can any person, Mr Bush included ever come out with the exact figure of the number of innocent lives that will be cruelly snuffed due to this misplaced adventure in the Gulf? And we have not yet started talking about the possibility of the United States dropping a nuclear bomb on the streets of Iraqi cities.

If Mr Bush thinks that he has a right to attack Iraq anytime he wants to, then that’s a fallacy that is untrue and extremely dangerous for all those who believe in the sanctity of democratic norms.

Even the US Constitution lays down very clearly in Article 1, Section 8 that it is only the Congress that should take a decision whether the United States should go to war.

Unfortunately, successive US presidents have behaved like a one man army squad and waged war against all those who refuse to conform to their exacting definitions of what is right and what falls within the realm of the wrong.

How else can one account for the fact that despite there not being a single Congressional declaration of war since 1941, the world was flooded with a deluge of wars, courtesy the US. Glaring examples being Panama, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, apart from a slew of other nations the United States has waged war upon at one point of time or another.

And what does international law say? Country X cannot attack Country Y unless Country Y has already attacked Country X or is about to attack Country X. Has Iraq till date attacked US?

Saddam is no fool. He knows that attacking the US would be akin to committing harakiri.

As Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive so brilliantly puts it, under international law, Saddam Hussein may have a better case for attacking the United States today than Bush has for attacking Iraq, since Bush is threatening an imminent war against Iraq.

And what if the US attacks Iraq without the vital go ahead from the UN Security Council? Would it not be a violation of the UN charter, of which the US too is a signatory? But then the US decides multilaterally when it can, and unilaterally when it wants to. And any decision to wage war on Iraq will be a unilateral decision of the US alone.

Fading greenery in Chure region

Until three decades ago, the Chureregion was dense and green, adorned with generations-old trees. Even in midday, people had to walk inside the forest with a torchlight or lantern, and there was fear of wildlife. But now the scene is quite different.

With the deforestation going on rapidly in the Chure region, desertification has also become speedy in the three districts of the Sagarmatha zone. The forest bordering Udaypur, Saptari and Siraha is depleting by two per cent each year. According to Ram Prasad Bhusal, an official at the Chure Forest Development Project, the silt deposit in the more than 600 tributaries in the region is rising. According to Bhusal, the silt deposit is rising at a rate of one foot each year, which is considered rapid. This has made the river water level higher than the land in some places.

Experts fear that, in about three decades, the three districts will convert into a desert, if nothing is done to check the present deforestation rate. The obvious effects of the deforestation have been that land erosion has risen and more than a dozen people die each year beneath the landslides, while thousands become homeless due to heavy floods.

After even a brief downpour, river-water rises above the land level and sweeps the fields and villages, turning them into riverbed. In the rainy season last year, 13 people died and 210 others were rendered homeless, while 1500 bighas of fertile land turned into riverbed. The loss, according to authorities, was worth 200 million rupees.

"The brooks, which I used to jump to get to the other side, have now become more than a kilometre wide," recalls Jhulai Chaudhari, an elderly at Gaighat, the district headquarters of Udayapur. "And the same brook swept away my field."

As the number of victims of natural calamities is rising, few of them have realised that the reason behind their ill fate is deforestation. Statistics shows that the forest cover, which was 71 per cent of the total land in Udayapur, has now come down to 56 per cent. Especially the Chure forest portion in Saptari and Siraha districts has been heavily encroached. As the Chure forest is an old forest with many rare varieties of trees like Sal, Satisal, and Khayar that are considered the best for furniture, timber smugglers from both Nepal and India have also been attracted towards this forest. The fact that the media have many a time reported about gun-totting timber smugglers, justifies how severe is the deforestation. In the last three decades, in Siraha, Saptari and in the northern part of east-west highway, which once used to be dense forest, big human settlements have sprawled. Though the Chure forest is said to be 100 kilometres long and 10-19 kilometres wide, the Department of Forest, the authority concerned itself doesn’t have any statistics on the total area of the forest. With the concerned authorities turning a blind eye, the deforestation has been going unabated since decades. However, a number of NGOs and the German assisted Chure Forest Development Project have been working in the region to stop desertification since 1992. But these organisations have not been able to bring any positive impact on their reforestation programmes.

Project officials say that the reason behind the state of affairs is rampant poverty in the region. The forest still remains their prime source to beat the chill of the winter and to warm their hearths. Hence, selling firewood is a big business. More than sixty per cent people in the region are extremely poor. Although there are other alternatives to firewood like bio-gas, very few can afford that. A feasibility study showed that there was a demand of about 100,000 bio-gas plants but only 1600 plants have been installed so far.

"Only if package programmes are introduced to alleviate poverty, we can think of forest conservation," opines Munni Shah, the erstwhile Mayor of Lahan Municipality. A rough estimate also shows the inverse proportion of timber supply and demand. In 1991, the timber demand in Siraha and Saptari was 31,000 tons while the supply was just 21,000 tons. But after 11 years the demand has skyrocketed to 39,000 tons while the supply has dropped to 18000 tons. "Previously if we cut down one big tree, then that used to be of 1000 bundles of firewood, but now we need to cut more than 25 trees for the same," says, Naresh Thakur, the Udaypur District Forest Officer.

(With inputs from Peshal Acharya in Udayapur)

Productivity and cleanliness

Jaya Dev Baidya

Human requirements are limitless and since time immemorial it is being fulfilled with ingenuity, innovations and inventions. Innumerable items and countless ideas have placed the human life today at the threshold of fantasy and reality where there is hardly a boundary. Because of the technological advancements modern day living enjoys comforts and amenities that were undreamt of by our forefathers. Facilities that were once figments of imagination and limited to science fictions are realities in life today. These innovations have become part of normal life and have also reached the lower rungs of society, even in the developing world. The easy access of most of the modern amenities and comforts they provide have become part of life in today’s society because of the mass production and their being produced at affordable prices by competitive industries.

If science and its endeavors have brought about positive changes in the lives of mankind, human negligence, avarice and apathy have brought about untold miseries and distress in the world. The products that have changed the quality of human lives for better by leaps and bounds, have also caused immeasurable sufferings because of human shortcomings and shortsightedness. Industries that produce essential commodities for human consumption and provide sustenance to many by employment also adversely affect the environment when the nature’s demand for balance is ignored. The end-result being that the communities are compelled to endure the adverse impacts. It has, hence, become essential that a balance be maintained between the production activity and the environment for sustained development.

Among the scores of such products, in the context of Nepal, plastics in general, though it has become an integral part of modern day living, and HDPE pipes have changed the lives of millions of village and hill people. They have made their daily chores easier. Otherwise, the people would have to trek miles to fetch their daily requirement of drinking water. The use and disposal of the thin polyethylene bags in specific has raised debates and controversies for some time in the past. This has been mainly due to the fact that while we have accepted the benefits of the modern technology and enjoyed the advantages of the plastic shopping bags we have not managed to change our habits and requirements that the use of this versatile material demands. This failure has resulted in difficulties in waste disposal and increase in littering, adversely affecting the environment of the once
pristine surroundings of this Himalayan Kingdom.

Disposal of municipal garbage has become a major challenge in recent years, raising demands for even a ban on the use of plastic shopping bags. There has been a lot of hue and cry due to shortage of dumping sites. These laments exhibit more the shortage of vision and planning than the determination to solve the problem. Solution is not to terminate an individual’s life if he is afflicted with a deadly disease but to try and find a remedy. Hence, banning the use of plastic shopping bags is not a solution but in fact is running away from tackling the problem and is against the very essence of human character. The remedy is to find an alternative, and until that practical and affordable alternative is found, plastic will continue to be used and the best option till such time, hence, is to use the R-R-R Strategy— Reuse, Reduce and Recycle.

While, on the one hand, efforts need to be made to increase productivity to keep up with the times with least possible effect on the environment, equal emphasis need to be given to alleviate environmental repercussions of the goods produced and used. The necessity to minimize the environmental damage in a global scale has become even more acute in recent years because of the marked climatic changes that are experienced and the catastrophic results that we hear of almost every day.

At a time like this, the Environment Sector Programme Support (ESPS) has been formed in Nepal, under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, with the assistance of the Danish Government. Efforts are being made to reduce the adverse impacts made by industries in the environment. While it aims at assisting existing industries to reduce the pollution generated by practicing Cleaner Production principles, the scope of helping the industries set up to help clean up the environment has not been adequately emphasized. In other words an industry, which has a bad effluent situation and is a polluter, gets a priority in receiving help from ESPS. On the other hand, industries involved in recycling which actually help reduce the pollution generated by others have not been given a priority in help as they expect and deserve.

In developed countries, industries contributing in making a positive impact on the environment enjoy various privileges and incentives. Nepal is not an exception to make such provision in Article 15 of the Environment Protection Act 2053. It states that, "Apart from the usual privileges and facilities provided by the current Act, additional facilities and privileges can be provided" to such activities. However, it has been limited to the Act and it is an irony that the recycling industry has not had the opportunity to enjoy the benefits provided by the above act.

On the contrary:

1. They pay the same rate of interest on the bank loan as the beer, liquor, cigarette and tobacco or any other industry,

2. They pay the same rate on electricity for the power consumed by this power intensive industry,

3. Instead of the tax holiday this environment-friendly industry should have been provided with, "Kaabdi" Scrap Tax is levied on every kilogram of scrap plastic that is transported to the factory. The irony is further aggravated by the fact that the scrap contains sand, soil and
water by virtue of it being collected from municipal waste and its proportion being 50-70 percent as against the plastic content. The Kaabdi
Tax levied being Rs.1.00 per kg of waste, the real tax cost works out to Rs.2.5 - 3.00 per kilo of actual plastic recovered.

4. To make matters worse even the product of this industry is not exempted from VAT for the last two years till date, although it was exempted in the fiscal year 2055/56

In the context of the present situation, the role of ESPS would be even more crucial for filling the lacuna generated by the implementation of the Act and comes as a ray of hope to the recycling industries for providing the much needed impetus to their resolve to be involved in the enhancement of cleanliness and better environment, not only in the industry concerned but also in general.

This time, take care of the refugees

Sadako Ogata

Memories of the massive flight of refugees from Iraq in March 1991 flood my mind. After Iraqi forces were driven out of Kuwait by the U.S.-led coalition, disaffected groups launched a rebellion in the north and the south. Saddam Hussein’s forces reacted severely - 450,000 people, most of them Kurds, fled to the Turkish frontier within a week. Another 1.3 million Kurds moved to Iran, as did some 70,000 Iraqis, mostly Shiites in the south.

I had assumed the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in late February. I was a newcomer confronting a major crisis. Within the United Nations, my office was to lead the humanitarian operations. The Iranian government invited me to come for an emergency visit. Their burden was huge, as they maintained their policy of keeping the borders open. Iran was already host to more than 2 million refugees, including Afghans and Iraqis from the Iran-Iraq war.

We did everything possible to assist Iran to respond to the influx and manage the refugee camps. But the relief operation in Turkey faced serious problems. The Turkish government, struggling with a significant Kurdish insurrection in southeastern Anatolia, and believing that it could not risk hosting a large number of refugees, closed the border to prevent the Kurds from entering. Several hundred thousand Kurds were stranded in inhospitable, snow-covered mountain passes along the Iraqi-Turkish border with neither food nor shelter.

Television images of their suffering helped to create international pressure for emergency relief action, but the victims were impossible to reach. The Western coalition governments were hesitant to press Turkey to open the borders. For them, the primary concern was to maintain NATO’s use of air bases in Turkey.

President Turgut Ozal broached the idea of a "safe haven" for the Kurds inside northern Iraq. The Security Council adopted Resolution 866, insisting that "Iraq allow immediate access by international humanitarian organizations to all those in need of assistance" and calling on the secretary-general to "use all resources at his disposal" to address their needs.

President George Bush then announced the launching of Operation Provide Comfort to establish a "security zone." The aim was to trigger a quick return of the Kurds and then turn the operation over to the United Nations.

The policy to return Kurds to a security zone within their country put my office in a serious dilemma. There was immense pressure for the refugees to return quickly. Coalition forces initially argued that the presence of international aid workers would be sufficient security. Could humanitarian agencies assure the long-term safety of the returning Kurds?

With the coalition forces leading the way, the displaced population came down en masse from the mountain passes. We had to quickly set up camps and settlements. The Iraqi government chose to work with UN agencies rather than to allow the presence of the coalition forces. It agreed to the stationing of a 500-strong UN guard contingent, mandated to protect the staff, equipment and supplies of the humanitarian agencies. My office continued to be uncertain, however, of the security of the returning Kurds.

On my first visit to the White House that summer, I appealed to President Bush for the American forces to stay longer. He responded that he understood my concerns but he said they had to leave, lest they be accused of imperialist designs.

I can still see the long queue of people and vehicles - cars, buses, trucks, tractors - lined up on the mountain path desperate to cross over to Iran. I am haunted by those images - the frightened faces of exhausted children as they came down from the Turkish border, the women desperate to find some crumbs to feed their family, the elderly shivering with inadequate winter clothing.

Will the world again be witness to such human misery? Are we to see the same tragedy unfolding through another cycle of suffering?

Humanitarian work is not only about providing food and medicine. In essence, it is to assure safety and survival for ordinary people - children, women and the elderly. If the world chooses to take a military course in Iraq, it must keep any humanitarian consequences of such action firmly in the forefront of its concern.

(The writer is a former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)