“If it serves the humanitarian cause, I’m talking to the devil”

class=”sc-97fd9fa8-0 jNFKxv”>

Sunday image: The earthquake in Turkey has almost completely disappeared from the newspapers. Which headlines are we missing?
Manuel Bessler: Unfortunately, media interest in such catastrophes is rapidly waning. When a rescue operation ends, the misery isn’t over yet. At present, 25 people from the Swiss humanitarian aid unit are on duty in Turkey. It is an event of the century, a catastrophe of gigantic proportions.

What do these helpers do on site?
A team provides emergency shelter. People affected by the earthquake are afraid to return to their homes. We set up shelters, hand out blankets. We have taken 300 tents from our decentralized warehouse in Dubai, which are now being set up in Gaziantep. We are also supporting a hospital that lacks staff and equipment.

The 78-strong rescue chain, which specializes in rescue and medical first aid for people buried after earthquakes, first deployed during your tenure. They were on vacation. Does that bother you?
It rolled my fingernails back! You can compare it to the firefighter waiting to put out a fire. But of course no one hopes for misery.

How did you follow what happened?
I was on a sailing ship somewhere out at sea. If I had a mobile phone signal, I would contact colleagues. Then I realised: things are going smoothly. I’m retiring at the end of March – actually I don’t need it anymore. The fire test was successful.

When Switzerland takes sides, as in Ukraine, it complicates your work. What does that mean for the helpers?
Switzerland enjoys a high degree of international acceptance and credibility. This is essential, because without access humanitarian aid is impossible. Impartiality and neutrality are the basis of humanitarian work. Neutrality in the humanitarian context means that everyone who needs help should get help – regardless of whether it’s party A or B in the dispute.

Misery has occupied you for 30 years now. How has that changed you as a person?
Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus: We build something – and the next day it gets bombed again. This does not lead to resignation, but to frustration. In Ukraine, just a 12-hour drive from the headquarters of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, international law is broken every day. So I had to learn to redefine success: I can’t solve the problems of the Kurds alone, but I can solve those of this Kurdish family who, thanks to our work, have access to clean water again.

You started your career as a lawyer on Paradeplatz in Zurich, why was the banking environment too narrow-minded for you?
Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a lawyer. When I was then, it didn’t feel like I imagined. Then I was just lucky: I stumbled upon an advertisement in the “Tages-Anzeiger”. The ICRC was looking for a lawyer. International law had always fascinated me, but you couldn’t make any money with it on the Paradeplatz. When I read the ad, I immediately knew, “That’s it, I want to do that.” My father, of course, was shocked: “Do you want to save the world now?” I was awarded the contract and have never regretted it since.

What did you get into then?
To meaningful and very satisfying work, which also has its price. You have to be very careful not to become a crisis junkie. When the bullets hiss around your ears, it triggers adrenaline rushes. In the long run it is unhealthy.

Where did you experience this hail of bullets up close?
In the Balkans, for example, during the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s. The way from the airport to the city center was through the so-called Sniper Alley. We traveled in a tank on wheels. The snipers joked that they were shooting at us. Their cartridges couldn’t damage our vehicles, they probably just wanted to scare us.

Were these encounters always this easy?
During the first Chechen war, we set up a hospital just outside Grozny. On the night of December 16, 1996, armed men climbed over the fence and shot six of our men in cold blood. To this day it is not known who was behind the murders.

How do you deal with such a horror experience?
Among the victims were nurses whom I had personally hired. That was over 20 years ago – I can never forget this tragedy.

Do you feel responsible?
Yes of course! It was my delegation. Safety is my top priority. We left immediately after the attack in Chechnya. A year and a half of work was destroyed in one night.

Have you ever wondered what you actually do here?
You only have to enter a destroyed house once and visit the family that lives in their basement. Look into the eyes of frightened children. These encounters motivate me to make a change: with little effort, humanitarian aid often has a big impact!

To provide humanitarian aid, you also have to sit down with villains. How do you negotiate with evil?
If it serves the humanitarian cause, I’m also talking to the devil. For example, to drive a convoy of medicines through a disputed territory. It is then necessary to separate the humanitarian from the political. In Congo, a rebel leader once asked me, “Hey you, why is peace better than war?” I replied that it could not be his intention that the people of his country, including his own people, should suffer permanently. But you have to be careful not to become a missionary.

How do you win the trust of the conflicting parties?
By presence and a good network of contacts. This means that you can get involved with other cultures and customs. So you have to invest time and patience, drink many cups of tea or even a few glasses of vodka – sometimes as early as ten in the morning.

After ten years with Deza you retire at the end of the month. Apply now to become Vice President of the Swiss Red Cross. The aid organization is in crisis, it is considered divided. Why do you want to do this to yourself?
It is the humanitarian work that fascinates me. With my many years of humanitarian experience and contacts I could make a very good contribution. At the Red Cross, I don’t want to be the adviser nobody listens to. I’d be happy to help.

Source:Blick