Brussels, 19/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid declared that he was "appalled" by the kidnapping on Tuesday morning in Baghdad of Margaret Hassan, the County director of CARE in Iraq. In a press statement he said that he was even more shocked given that she was a joint British and Iraqi citizen working for the Australian satellite to the NGO. He said that she had dedicated her life to helping the Iraqi people, adding, "her abduction comes as yet another blow for the humanitarian community, and for all the vulnerable Iraqis benefiting from aid programmes. CARE is a longstanding partner of the European Commission's Humanitarian Department (ECHO) in Iraq, with a decade of experience in implementing EU funded projects in the country. CARE has made an outstanding contribution to improving the lives of ordinary Iraqis and helped to counterbalance the effect of sanctions before the war broke out".