Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=03/23/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / RED CROSS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-301160

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=AMMAN, JORDAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross that are still operating in Iraq have managed to visit hospitals in Baghdad to help treat the wounded there. Correspondent Laurie Kassman has more details from Amman, Jordan.

TEXT: Iraqi staff members of the I-C-R-C have reported treating about 100 casualties at Baghdad's Yarmuk teaching hospital. Spokesman Muin Qassis in Amman says the wounded included about 20 women and several children.

He says I-C-R-C teams also have brought help to other hospitals in the Iraqi capital during a lull in the bombing raids there.

/// QASSIS ACT ///

Another I-C-R-C team managed to install a water purification unit at the general hospital. Now this hospital can accommodate about 25-hundred beds. So now they are able to receive good potable water from this unit.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Qassis says surgical equipment is also being provided.

I-C-R-C teams located in the northern city of Irbil have reached several-hundred of the thousands of displaced Kurds near the Iranian border.

/// QASSIS ACT TWO ///

Our teams in the north managed to assist around 600-persons in the north, so far. And we have learned that almost 23-thousand displaced persons have been registered in the Penjuin area, a town near the border with Iran. So things seem to be under control there.

/// END ACT ///

In a telephone interview with V-O-A, Mr. Qassis says the International Red Cross did manage to send in eight truckloads of emergency supplies the day before the war started.

/// QASSIS ACT THREE ///

We have many trucks on standby in the neighboring countries, exactly as we planned it in the past few weeks. Since the military action started, we have not sent in any material nor any trucks. Definitely we will be negotiating this with the parties concerned in this conflict.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Qassis expects more relief supplies to move into Iraq as soon as it is safe to do so. And, he calls on all governments involved in the war in Iraq to respect international humanitarian laws that demand protection of civilians in the combat zones. (SIGNED)

NEB/LMK/DW/FC/rae