Voices In the Wilderness

From: Voices In the Wilderness 
Dear Friends,
Many of you may have read articles in the US press about the latest UNICEF
documentation of civilian suffering in Iraq.  Civilian suffering described
in the report has been, I feel, sadly obscured by some articles that focus
very intently on assigning blame for the tragedy that afflicts Iraqi
people.  The UNICEF report notes that distribution of relief in the north
is far more efficient than that which occurs in the center and south of
Iraq.  The UN coordinates distribution in the north and the Iraqi
government bears responsibility for distribution in central and southern
Iraq.   UN officials in Iraq who are responsible for monitoring
distribution of relief in central and southern Iraq have regularly and
patiently explained to our last seven delegations (since November, 1998)
that the Iraqi government's failure to efficiently distribute medicine and
other relief shipments in the central and southern areas of Iraq should not
be attributed to malice.  They then list the litany of woes faced by
government workers who face the debilitating consequences of economic
sanctions imposed since August 1990.  
Our most recent delegation,(August 1 - 10), met with Mr. Hans von Sponeck,
who directs  UNOCHI, the UN agency responsible for monitoring distribution
of humanitarian relief in Iraq.  We're eager to circulate a transcript of
their conversation with him.  Till then, we offer the following excerpts
from an April 5 interview with Mr. Von Sponeck.  Thank you for taking time
to read this.  We think it will be useful for you in conversations with
people who are convinced tht the _New York Times_ faithfully presents all
the news that's fit to print.  
Sincerely, 
Kathy
for Voices in the Wilderness
>From an April 5 transcript of an interview with Mr. Hans von Sponeck:
Mr. von Sponeck:  "If you talked to UNICEF, they gave you already some
information [on malnutrition]. I just want to say [that] malnutrition --
general
malnutrition, acute malnutrition, chronic malnutrition -- all three are in
better shape in the northern areas, in these three northern Kurdish areas,
than in the rest. That has many quite objective reasons. One of which is
that in the Kurdish part of Iraq, the per capita contribution from the
humanitarian program is much higher than in the rest of Iraq. That's one
reason. The other is that the Kurdish areas are adjacent to Turkey through
which a lot of illegal items are coming into Iraq. [Another reason is] the
market mechanisms are much better functioning in these parts. There's much
more private activity ... in this part of the country. That explains the
differential between the North and the Center-South. Having said that -- I'm
sure my UNICEF colleague did say to you -- that none of the figures, neither
the 23% for general malnutrition in the!
 South-Center nor the 14% in the North, are an acceptable figure. It's bad,
and one should try and do something about it.... The food basket isn't
adequate.
-----------
In response to recent media stories in which U.N. Secretary General Koffi
Annan reported that $3 million of medical supplies are languishing
undistributed in Iraqi warehouses, and other press reports charging Iraqi
government with deliberately withholding the distribution of medical
supplies and overstocking the same supplies for military purposes, Voices
in the Wilderness would like to present the following information regarding
the stockpiling drawn from sources close to the humanitarian effort in Iraq.
Later in the interview - re:  misinformation about the
overstocking of medicines in hospitals and warehouses. "If you get from
someone a monocausal explanation, then start getting suspicious."
While the Iraqi government has at times ordered the overstocking of items,
Von Sponeck calls this act "one factor and not a major factor in our
opinion." He also disputes the military nature of the medicines.  "What the
military in a war situation needs in terms of medicine is not the kind of
medicine that we are bringing in for normal diseases and illnesses into the
warehouses," Von Sponeck said. More important in explaining the
overstocking are the following factors: Low wages of Iraqi warehouses
workers, insufficient
transport, and the poor condition of Iraqi warehouses in the provinces
hinders distribution of medical supplies. A lack of cash in the hands of
Iraqi authorities also makes it difficult to insure shipments will be paid
for and therefore go through. The Iraqi government has to overcome numerous
obstacles put up by the sanctions to even find suppliers of medicines. 
In an interview, Dennis Halliday, the former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator
for Iraq, indicated another problem regarding contracts: the Iraqi
government did not do a good job finding the right-sized companies to
distribute medicine. In addition, the U.N. Security Council has delayed for
months approving the distribution contracts.
The U.N. Security Council has not approved the refrigerator trucks required
to transport the medicine nor the computers necessary to run the inventory
system. Inefficiencies in the Iraqi Ministry of Health also hurt efforts to
distribute medicines.
In an April 22 1999 conversation with Hartford, Connecticut Catholic Worker
member Chris Doucet, the Deputy Director of the U.N. Humanitarian Program
in Iraq, Farid Zarif, cited not only the lack of refrigerated trucks but
also the roving electrical blackouts that spoil some of the medicine and
hamper its distribution. Through U.N. Resolution #986, in which Iraq was
allowed to sell a limited amount of oil in order to raise cash to buy food,
many items
arrived at the same time and could not be distributed because of lack of
trucks. Finally, Zarif said, technicians needed to install medical
equipment and devices needed to run the equipment have yet to arrive, and
thus the equipment continues to sit in the warehouse.
Dr. Hans Von Sponeck concluded: "The sanctions are an experiment that
failed. We must not do it again."
Voices in the Wilderness
	A Campaign to End the US/UN Economic Sanctions Against the People of Iraq
1460 West Carmen Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
ph:773-784-8065; fax: 773-784-8837
email: kkelly@igc.apc.org
website: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw
      







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