Lack of security still hampering UN's humanitarian operations in Iraq

Lack of security remains a source of concern for United Nations operations in Iraq and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to temporarily withdraw from the Al Hurriya warehouse in Baghdad following ongoing unrest and theft, a spokesman said today.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency appealed to donors to make up a $31 million shortfall to fund its work in Iraq through the end of the year, and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that it had teamed up with five international aid organizations to study the situation in which Iraqi children live, identifying particularly vulnerable groups.

The United States-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is working with WFP to resolve the security issues, Adnan Jarrar, spokesperson for the UN Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI), told a news briefing in Baghdad.

Last week, an organized crowd attacked a convoy transporting WFP food at Safwan in southern Iraq. A vehicle positioned in front of the convoy forced the trucks to slow down while a crowd threw stones at drivers and stole 390 bags of wheat flour. This was the fifth convoy transporting WFP food to be attacked in the area since distribution started. A gun battle also took place at Kimadia warehouse No.1 in Baghdad on Sunday.

So far WFP has delivered 480,000 tons of wheat flour, sugar and rice procured under the Oil-for-Food programme, in which the sanctions-bound regime of Saddam Hussein was allowed to sell oil for humanitarian supplies, to Baghdad, Erbil, Hilla, Ba'aquba, Mosul, Amara, Basra and Nassriyah.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had so far received more than $59 million in funds but still needs some $31 million to meet its estimated needs through the end of 2003 to continue helping more than 110,000 refugees in the country as well as displaced Iraqis who are choosing to return home on their own.

“Iraq is facing enormous needs after years of neglect,” UNHCR chief Ruud Lubbers said. “UNHCR and our humanitarian partners require urgent assistance to help the Iraqi people and to maintain life-giving aid programmes to ensure that returning Iraqis have the basic assistance and infrastructure so their return and reintegration is durable.”

As to the children’s project, UNICEF said the investigation, which it will carry out together with the Christian Children’s Fund, Save the Children UK, World Vision International, the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children US, will identify particularly vulnerable groups of children, including street children, working children, institutionalized children, and children in conflict with the law.

“This is not just an assessment, it is a means for making contact with children so that UNICEF and our dedicated NGO (non-government organizations) partners can immediately assist any child we come in contact with who needs our support,” said he agency’s representative in the country, Carel de Rooy.

For its part, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in cooperation with the CPA and the Ministry of Agriculture, has finalized plans for the upcoming winter grain crop and most signs are encouraging.

The crop, planted in October and November and harvested next spring, is composed mainly of wheat and barley and is likely to be a crucial crop since it marks the transition of Iraqi agriculture from the old system to the new one that is emerging.

FAO estimates that Iraq's farmers will plant 1.8 million hectares of wheat and 830,000 hectares of barley, which falls well within the annual average of somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million hectare, spokesman Barry Came said.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, will travel to the city of Najaf to meet with political and religious leaders as part of his continuing efforts to reach out to a wide spectrum of Iraqi society, both in Baghdad and the provinces.