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UN pinpoints $1 billion in food, medicine for Iraq
( 2003-04-02 16:13 ) (7 )

The United Nations said on Tuesday it had identified over $1 billion worth of food and medical supplies that could reach Iraq by mid-May but said civilians and not the military would distribute them.

The goods were purchased by Iraq from its oil revenues before the war began and administered by the United Nations under the oil-for-food program. The world body is under a 45-day time line to see which supplies are able to begin shipping the goods before May 12.

The Security Council last Friday authorized UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to review over the next 45 days some $13 million worth of contracts already approved under the program to see which ones could be delivered quickly to Iraq.

But the complicated program, which has more money in an escrow account than any emergency appeal could hope to raise or the U.S. and British governments have offered, includes many contracts that are not suited for emergency needs.

Farid Zarif, a director for the program, told a news conference his staff had $2.9 billion in uncommitted funds. Of these, the $1 billion in humanitarian contracts includes goods already in transit and others that could be delivered quickly.

"We're working very much against the clock to make sure we are able to contact suppliers and see how many of them can deliver within this very short time period that we've been given," said Phillip Ward, a World Food Program official.

The oil-for-food program was set up in late 1996 to ease the impact of sanctions imposed on Iraq when it invaded Kuwait in 1990. Some 60 percent of the Iraqi population is totally dependent on rations under the plan.

The United Nations approves contracts for food, medicine and a host of civilian goods ordered by Iraq. Some 13 percent of the goods are earmarked for Kurdish provinces where the United Nations, rather than Baghdad, ran the program.

But oil revenues have now stopped, although some oil is still reaching the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan from fields in Kirkuk. But Zarif said no firms were lifting the oil, mainly because they are unable to make contract with the Iraqi State Oil Co., which drew up the contracts.

WHO DISTRIBUTES THE FOOD

Ward stressed that UN relief agencies expected to tap into an Iraqi network of 45,000 distribution centers, if they remain intact, rather than the U.S. and British military.

"Any use of military assets is always very much a last resort," Ward told the news conference.

Many major aid agencies, poised to help with emergency supplies, have appealed to the United States to make sure distribution is done by civilians, preferably under a UN umbrella, in a dispute that has reached the Pentagon.

Secretary of State Colin Powell last week wrote to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld making clear that civilian authorities, not the Pentagon, would be in charge of American humanitarian assistance, U.S. officials said.

Teams of UN security experts have been waiting in Kuwait before crossing into southern Iraqi to make a security assessment. A team was expected to enter Iraq this week.

However, large-scale civilian aid will not begin until the fighting subsides. Most of the goods that has reached people in the needy southern area has been distributed by the troops.

In addition to the oil-for-food program, UN agencies have appealed for $2.2 billion in emergency funds. The World Food Program has asked for $1.3 billion from donor governments, mainly so food can be purchased in the region quickly.

The appeal is causing some confusion since the agencies do not know precisely how much of their needs may be covered under the oil-for-food program.

The funds from the appeal will also be used for any refugee needs, such as tents, as well as water purification and other emergency needs not covered under the oil for food program, according to Oliver Ulrich of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

UN officials estimate that most Iraqis have stored enough food to last through the end of April.