Food for Iraq Focus of Top Level Meetings

NEW YORK, New York, March 25, 2003 (ENS) - The requirements for providing assistance to the Iraqi people were under consideration today in a meeting between United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S.National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Secretary-General Annan is preparing to chair a top level meeting of United Nations relief agencies in at UN Headquarters in New York tomorrow to address the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.

Representatives of UN organizations in the region expressed growing alarm today for the southern city of Basra, where the 1.7 million residents have been without full water supplies for four days. UNICEF spokesman Geoffrey Keele said the agency is working to get water tankers into Basra to improve the situation for the city's children.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks to reporters Monday (Photo courtesy UN)

"The situation in Basra is very alarming, very critical and all of us have raised concern about the situation there, especially about the water, which is of very poor quality," Veronique Tareau, spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq told a briefing in Amman, Jordan. She warns that epidemics will spread when the temperature reaches up to 40 degrees C as it does in the southern city of Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

Warning that lack of safe water increased disease and death rates, particularly among children, WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland urged all parties to fully respect the neutrality of medical staff and facilities.

"I call on all those involved to avoid any and all attacks directed at health personnel," she said in a statement issued in Geneva.

Also in Geneva, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, who will be attending tomorrow's New York gathering of relief agencies, said, "Electricity has been knocked out, interrupting the water supply, and that puts people at risk of disease from unsafe water."

Bellamy called on the combatants to abide by their humanitarian obligations under international law and make the safety of children a priority. "We're very concerned about reports of deaths and injuries among children and women," she said. "Such losses are tragic, and they are unacceptable. But the truth is the world does not have a very clear picture of the humanitarian impact of the fighting. There is a disturbing lack of focus on the civilian population."

Mother and child at an Iraqi hospital (Photo courtesy government of Iraq)

Announcing the open meeting, which was requested by the Arab League and the Non-Aligned Movement, Guinea’s Ambassador Mamady Traoré, Council President for March, said many speakers are expected to take part in the debate set to begin at 3 pm New York time.

In the morning, Council members are scheduled to discuss adjustments to the Oil for Food Program based on suggestions from Secretary-General Annan and the work of experts, who, since Saturday, have been seeking ways to enable the UN to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq despite the temporary halt to the program.

The operation was suspended on March 17 when the secretary-general ordered all UN personnel out of Iraq, leaving it with no inspectors to monitor the selling of oil and the distribution of food required by the program in its current form.

Ambassador Traoré said he hoped tomorrow morning's discussion of a draft resolution on continuing humanitarian assistance to Iraq would lead to a consensus.

Last week U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced the immediate release of 200,000 metric tons of wheat for Iraqi food relief, with another 400,000 tons to be made available as needed.