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Politicizing aid work for Iraq frought with risks, UN official tells Security Council
21 September -- The top United Nations official responsible for overseeing the UN's humanitarian programme for Iraq appealed today to members of the Security Council to cast aside political considerations when dealing with the needs of the Iraqi people.

"I asked all of them that in spite of all that is going on currently...they should not forget the human factor in their decisions regarding the humanitarian programme and to try to de-link it from politics," Benon Sevan, the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, told reporters after he briefed the Council behind closed doors. Mr. Sevan said he had urged the 15-member Council to "think about the poor Iraqi people, because if [the issue] becomes too politicized, which it already has been, the danger is that programme implementation will be suffering very seriously."

Mr. Sevan oversees the "oil-for-food" programme which allows Iraq to sell its petroleum and use part of the proceeds to purchase humanitarian goods for the country's people. He told the Council that at current prices the revenue in the programme's current phase could reach as high as $10 billion, providing $6.6 billion for the humanitarian programme. At the same time, he voiced concern over a range of issues faced by the programme, particularly the serious impact of contracts put on hold, which are now valued at just under $2 billion. The Executive Director also said his office would shortly launch a new campaign to bring down the level of contracts on holds.

Mr. Sevan told journalists that unless special efforts were made by the Security Council sanctions committee to release holds on contracts for spare parts to shore up Iraq's oil industry, the country would not be able to sustain the current production levels. "They are in fact producing now at the expense of the future," he added.

Noting that the sanctions committee had recently reduced the number of holds, the Executive Director told reporters that Council members were "all very supportive" of the work of the oil-for-food programme.