Iraq: UN transfers $84 million in excess administrative funds to relief account

The United Nations has transferred $84 million in Iraqi oil revenues that had been set aside for administrative costs to an account designated for the purchase of humanitarian relief, according to documents made public today at UN Headquarters in New York.

The transfer was announced by the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Benon Sevan, in identical letters to the Permanent Representative of Iraq and to the Chairman of the Security Council committee monitoring the sanctions against Baghdad.

According to the Office, the savings were the result of UN administrative and operational cost-minimizing efforts as directed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

This is the third such transfer, bringing to $211 million the total in UN administrative and operational cost-savings that has been redistributed towards the purchase of humanitarian supplies by the Baghdad Government in the country's 15 central and southern governorates.

The funds come from the sale of Iraqi petroleum under the "oil-for-food" programme, which allocates a majority of the revenues to the humanitarian relief effort.