FED: Pratt supplied information during Gulf War: mother

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-1999
FED: Pratt supplied information during Gulf War: mother

CANBERRA, April 12 AAP - CARE Australia aid worker Steve Pratt, detained in Yugoslavia for
alleged spying, had a bounty on him after he supplied information about Iraqi forces to the
United Nations during the Gulf War, his mother has said.

But CARE Australia chief executive Charles Tapp slammed the report.

Mavis Pratt told The Sunday Telegraph her son helped the UN in Iraq to assist Kurdish
refugees.

"He was letting the UN know what Iraq was doing, he was observing, so Iraq put a price on
his head and they had to get him out of there quickly," Mrs Pratt said.

Mr Tapp said Mrs Pratt was elderly.

"Frankly, I consider this to be extremely poor journalism," he told ABC Radio.

"We're dealing here with the lives of two of our aid workers and a number of people are
also putting their lives on the line in trying to getting them out and reports like that are
extremely unhelpful and are potentially very dangerous."

Mr Tapp denied Mr Pratt, 49, of Sydney, had been involved in spying of any kind.

In his appearance on Serbian state television RTS, Mr Pratt said in English, with Serbian
translation, that he was working on getting information on Kosovo and the effects of the
bombing.

Mr Tapp said Mr Pratt had been under immense pressure and interrogated since he and
colleague Peter Wallace, 30, of Mackay, were detained on March 31.

"As far as I'm concerned, Steve is nothing else but a very fine humanitarian aid worker,"
Mr Tapp said.

He said documentation shown on television to support the espionage allegations included a
video store card and a social club membership card.

"I think that's some indication of the way this is being handled by the Yugoslav
authorities," Mr Tapp said.

AAP fh/bm/br

KEYWORD: KOSOVO CARE MOTHER

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