Vicar of Baghdad Warned Aid Agency Not to Go to Iraq

The vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White, has said that he warned the aid agency responsible for the kidnapped aid workers in Iraq, including a British professor, not to go to the country because it was too dangerous, reports The Church of England Newspaper.

|TOP|Professor Norman Kember, former secretary of the Baptist Peace Fellowship, was kidnapped in Baghdad at the weekend along with two Canadians and one American whilst working with aid agency Christian Peacemakers Team.

Canon White’s comments come amid rising criticism against CPT that they acted irresponsibly in ignoring advice telling them to avoid the area. CPT was the only aid organisation left in Iraq after the country was deemed too unsafe for foreign workers.

“I did warn them (CPT) not to go out,” said Canon White, chief executive of the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East. “But they are good people who meant very well but it is such a dangerous environment.”

Despite the chaos and bloodshed in Baghdad there was also a spark of hope, with the first Anglican baptised in Iraq this week for more than a decade.

Baby Andrew Hanna Phoma Clive was baptised by Canon White in the only Anglican church in Iraq, St George’s, situated in the heart of the heavily militarised green zone in Baghdad.

|QUOTE|Canon White said: “Amongst everything that is terrible there is a small sign of hope; it was a very special occasion.”

He joked: “I am now not the only Anglican in Iraq, there’s two of us and they are both called Andrew.”

The baby was named Andrew after Canon White and Clive after the Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the most Rev. Clive Hanford.