12 September 2000
Iraq Refuses to Cooperate with U.N. on Humanitarian Aid Survey
Annan reports on oil-for-food program By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- A periodic report on the humanitarian oil-for-food program released September 11 faults Iraq for refusing to cooperate with U.N. efforts to improve the program. In a written report to the Security Council, Secretary General Kofi Annan said that despite improvements in the ordering and provision of food supplies, the Iraqi government refuses to discuss arrangements for using oil-for-food funds to purchase Iraqi goods and services and to give visas for U.N. experts on this issue. The report reviews the implementation of the oil-for-food program under which Iraq is allowed to sell oil under U.N. supervision to buy humanitarian supplies. It covers the first three months of the latest 180-day extension, which began in June 2000. During this period, Iraq executed contracts for approximately 360.9 million barrels of oil with an estimated value of $8,500 million. The secretary general said that the substantial increases in revenue will help provide aid to Iraqi civilians, but it will take time for the full impact of the increased funding to be felt. Three and a half years into the program "its successes and limitations have become clearer," the secretary general said in the eight-page report. With the secretary general's urging, Iraq has increased the allocations for the food, nutrition and health requirements, allocating $498 million to the health sector -- a 63.3 percent increase, according to the report. For example, the increased target level of 2,472 kilocalories per person per day and the corresponding increase in the financial allocation for the food basket are both welcome and in line with his recommendations, Annan said. But in other areas Iraq still refuses to cooperate with the United Nations. Earlier this year the Security Council requested a comprehensive report and analysis on the humanitarian situation and needs in Iraq by independent experts. Nevertheless, Iraq has told the U.N. "that it does not intend to cooperate with or issue visas to such experts," the secretary general reported. The United Nations also wants to investigate the possibility of purchasing locally produced goods instead of contracting with foreign distributors. But Baghdad has refused to discuss such arrangements with the U.N. and has twice refused to issue visas to experts the United Nations wanted to send to examine whether such arrangements would be viable and practical. Different locally produced food items, including fruits, vegetables, poultry, eggs, meat and dairy products have become increasingly available in markets the country. Unfortunately most Iraqis do not have the necessary purchasing power to buy those foods. The monthly food ration represents the largest portion of their household income, the report said. "United Nations observations reveal that 70 percent of families barter or sell some of the items in the food basket to obtain other essential goods. The U.N. says that this practice is one of the reasons why the nutritional situation remains poor," the secretary general said. The World Food Program (WFP) reported that Iraq's Umm Qasr port, the railways, trucks, and mills related to food production are "in a deplorable state" because of age, poor maintenance, and lack of spare parts. The U.N. is, however, encouraged by the fact that Iraq had begun to work on replacing the mills and submitted a considerable number of applications to improve the warehousing and handling of humanitarian supplies including applications for trucks and forklifts, Annan said. Iraq's infrastructure remains heavily incapacitated despite Iraq's recent ordering of essential equipment and supplies, he said. Complementary items have frequently been kept on hold long after the main items to go with them had been delivered. There has been a steep decline in health care because of the departure of both foreign and Iraqi health professions, difficulty in distributing medical supplies and medicines, the secretary general said. Education is one of the most intractable problems facing the country, according to the secretary general. School enrolment in the center and south of the country has dropped as families send their children to work to bring home needed income. More emphasis is reflected in the oil-for-food plan for educational materials and infrastructure, but "action needs to be taken to address the problems in the education sector more fully and effectively particularly given its long-term implications, " the secretary general said. In contrast, in the northern Kurdish provinces where the U.N. runs the humanitarian program, school enrolment has actually risen because of sustained rehabilitation of educational facilities, availability of school supplies, and general economic improvement, he reported. On the long-running problem of the approval of contracts, the secretary general said that despite "the commendable efforts" made to reduce the number of contracts on hold, 647 contracts worth $1,500 million for humanitarian supplies and 504 contracts for oil and spare parts worth $279 million were on hold at the end of August. Most are on hold because nations have not responded to U.N. requests for clarifications on the contracts. He said that the measures the Security Council has taken to expedite contracts through the sanctions committee have helped expedite the process. The secretary general also pointed out that the oil-for-food program doesn't allow for financial investments to rehabilitate infrastructure and that has placed limitations on what the program can do to deliver supplies and see they are used effectively. That limitation must be address "if the humanitarian challenge is to be met in full," he said. Many humanitarian and human rights groups have highlighted the suffering of the Iraqi people, particularly the children, women, and elderly, under U.N. sanctions. But the secretary general pointed out that the oil-for -food program "was never intended to meet all the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi population or to substitute for normal economic activity." (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.s. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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