relief

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq led a team of senior UN officials across the border from Jordan into Iraq today to re-establish a permanent presence of international personnel in Baghdad for relief operations for the first time since being withdrawn on the eve of hostilities in March.

United Nations aid agencies opened a new health corridor into Iraq today, prepared to receive fresh food supplies and reported a further resumption of international work within the country, but they warned of a continuing lack of security that included looting of facilities that had been restocked and repaired after previous pillaging.

United Nations relief agencies today reported the opening of a fifth food corridor into Iraq, the imminent return of more international staff and the dispatch of emergency medical supplies, but warned that rapidly dwindling chlorine supplies in the south could leave water untreated within weeks, with "potentially calamitous" results.

Although at least one-third of Iraq's critical spring grain crop appears to have emerged unscathed from the recent conflict, the fate of the bulk of the winter crop of cereals, some 1.2 million tons of sorely needed wheat and barley, remains in doubt, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today.

United Nations relief agencies reported today that a fleet of food ships was converging on the Middle East in the race to ensure rations for Iraq's 27 million people next month while local health teams were fanning out inside the country to deliver essential medical supplies.

United Nations relief agencies opened a fourth food corridor into Iraq today while pledging help for re-opening schools and shifting focus from contingency preparations for a refugee exodus out of the country to the eventual repatriation of up to 500,000 people.

United Nations relief agencies reported the return today of more international staff to Iraq after their withdrawal on the eve of hostilities, and forecast an increase in food convoys, but said the security situation remained critical in Baghdad.

The first international United Nations humanitarian staff began returning to Iraq today more than five weeks after they were withdrawn on the eve of hostilities, and UN relief agencies reported a "dramatic increase" in food supplies, some restoration of electricity in Baghdad and cautious efforts to restart medical services.

United Nations relief agencies reported a slow improvement today in the humanitarian situation in Iraq but there were still many areas for concern, with spokesmen describing the state of affairs as “precarious” and “tense.”

United Nations relief agencies today praised the Iraqi doctors, nurses and support staff who have kept services running despite the destruction and looting, but they also underscored the enormity of the tasks ahead in repairing the national infrastructure and feeding the population.