28 March 2003
U.N. Security Council Restarts Iraq Oil-for-Food Program
(U.S. will facilitate U.N.-coalition cooperation) (1490) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- Regaining the unity it lost before the start of hostilities in Iraq, the U.N. Security Council March 28 unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the secretary general to use money in the oil-for-food program to provide emergency humanitarian aid to Iraqi civilians. After more than a week of negotiations, the council was able to separate the still divisive issue of the allied coalition's war against the regime of Saddam Hussein from the technical matters that prevented Secretary General Kofi Annan from using about $9 billion in proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil to help civilians. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, "we think that today's Security Council vote modifying the oil-for-food program marks an important step, which the United States has favored from the moment that the United Nations personnel were withdrawn and the program was suspended." "For its part, the United States will facilitate the necessary coordination on the ground in Iraq between coalition authorities and the United Nations and associated relief agency staff as oil-for-food supplies and other humanitarian assistance arrive and are distributed, as circumstances on the ground permit," Negroponte said. Resumption of the oil-for-food program, the ambassador said, "complements extensive United States efforts to address the humanitarian needs of the people of Iraq." Negroponte said U.S. bilateral humanitarian aid commitments will not be affected by the resumption of the program. U.S. aid "will remain robust and long term," he said. German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, who as chairman of the council's Iraqi Sanctions Committee led negotiations on the resolution, said, "this was a good day for the United Nations; it was a good day for the Security Council and, I hope, a good day for the suffering people of Iraq." "The council returned to its unity of purpose ... to save the people of Iraq who have been suffering for a long time and are suffering even more in the war now. The resolution not only makes clear the responsibility in wartime of the occupying power, it also makes an appeal to the international community and to the international organizations to do what they can to relieve the plight of the Iraqi people," he said. "We have to realize that even before the war, the people of Iraq were dependent on oil-for-food to a very large extent. The food basket in Iraq consists of 80 percent of goods that come out of the oil-for-food program. More than 60 percent of the Iraqi people were dependent on the program even before the war. That means the oil-for-food program fed more than 14 million people," Pleuger said. The unanimous vote "gives the right signal to the outside world that the Security Council is united in the purpose of helping the people of Iraq," the German ambassador said. According to U.N. officials, there are currently approved and funded contracts for purchase of humanitarian supplies totaling about $8.9 billion that have not yet been delivered, also referred to as "in the pipeline." Included in those contracts are about 6.2 metric tons of food. However, since the United Nations oversaw the program and the contracts were undertaken by the Iraqi Government, the United Nations is unsure of the status of much of the supplies. Another $5 billion in contracts have been processed but the program lacks the funds to pay for them, U.N. officials said. The four-page technical resolution, number 1472, gives the secretary general authority to make changes in the oil-for-food program for an initial period of 45 days. It allows him to establish locations both inside and outside Iraq for the delivery, inspection and review of the supplies and equipment the program purchases. Most importantly, it allows the secretary general to look at all the long list of contracts already in the pipeline, identify those which are urgently required to meet the needs of the Iraqi population under the new circumstances, then contact the suppliers to determine where the goods are or make adjustments. He is also authorized to use unencumbered funds to pay additional costs connected with reviewing and renegotiating the contracts. Under the resolution, the council's Iraqi Sanctions Committee is to work with the secretary general to expedite new contracts for emergency supplies and goods not in the pipeline. Under the program, which began in 1996, the proceeds from the sale of Iraqi oil were deposited in a U.N. escrow account, the large portion of which went to the oil-for-food program. The program was suspended when the secretary general withdrew 300 U.N. staff members just before hostilities began. The resolution addresses strictly the humanitarian aspect of the program and does not deal with the resumption of oil sales or the replenishment of the fund. Also not included is the use of oil-for-food funds for the reconstruction or rebuilding Iraq after the conflict. At the same time the council was voting March 28, the United Nations launched an appeal for over $2.2 billion to help U.N. agencies provide emergency humanitarian supplies to fill in the gaps that the oil-for-food program will not be able to provide. The appeal includes $1.3 billion for the World Food Program (WFP) for emergency food aid for the entire Iraqi population, including refugees and internally displaced persons. The remainder is earmarked for providing safe drinking water; attending to the health and nutrition needs of children, nursing mothers, and the elderly; providing shelter; clearing landmines; and emergency repairs to Iraq's infrastructure. Under Secretary General Louise Frechette said that with the war only a week old, the extent and nature of Iraq's needs are still very hard to assess. Also affecting the appeal will be how the oil-for-food program will be able to address the current needs, especially food requirements. At a press conference announcing the appeal, the under secretary general emphasized that the United Nations "will not know with any degree of certainty what supplies can actually be shipped in the 45-day period stipulated in the resolution until we have contacted the suppliers to establish where the supplies have got to, whether they are still available, when and where they could arrive in Iraq and at what extra cost." Therefore, Frechette said, it is urgent that U.N. humanitarian aid agencies, which have the flexibility and experience in working in such situations, have the funds needed to help out in the short term. Nevertheless, donors must guard against the notion that there is a large amount of money available from the oil-for-food program so additional funds are not needed, she said. "There are limits to how much one can play with what's in the (oil-for-food) pipeline. The fact that we now have a war situation on the ground is creating new and different requirements that were not anticipated when all these contracts were entered into." U.N. Development Program Administrator Mark Malloch Brown said that the United Nations will be constantly reviewing what can be paid for and delivered under the oil-for-food and then reduce the amount of the donor assistance needed. In addition to food, most of the appeal funds will go for repairing water systems or restarting electrical plants, Malloch Brown said. "Those items are not generally covered because those are longstanding capital items, not the requirement you need for emergency infrastructure repair. And, in a situation like Iraq which is largely urbanized, these kinds of issues -- water, sanitation, electricity, infrastructure -- are very urgent and up front," he said. "The oil-for-food program ... is essentially an on-going, import program for the (Iraqi) government to meet approved needs that the Security Council has allowed," Malloch Brown explained. "On top of that is the emergency created by the war. Those needs are clearly not planned for or provisioned for when the contracts were laid out and many in the Security Council believe that the nature of the conflict means that the Iraqi people shouldn't be the sole source of funding," he said. "There is an obligation on the international community to meet these unexpected exceptional needs." Frechette said that while U.N. international staff has been temporarily withdrawn from Iraq, there are more than 3,000 Iraqi nationals who work for the United Nations. U.N. agencies are keeping in contact with them and have reported that all those who can are continuing to provide assistance and support to Iraqi civilians. WFP has estimated that the majority of Iraqis will exhaust their food reserves by May. WFP is planning to support a food distribution system capable of meeting the needs of the entire population. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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