UN continues to deliver humanitarian aid

Despite limitations imposed by the security situation in Iraq, the United Nations is still carrying out a wide range of assistance to the country’s people through its national staff and Iraqi contractors, who are supported by several hundred international staff in the region, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told representatives of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council today. “Let me state once again that the UN’s sole objective is to help the Iraqi people,” Annan told a press conference following the talks. Through its several regional offices, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) is coordinating the cross-border deliveries, rehabilitation projects and capacity building activities being undertaken by the various agencies. UN agencies are also bringing in potable water, delivering medical supplies, providing fertilizer and seeds, dredging ports and helping to rehabilitate health centres, water treatment plants, pumping stations and power supply systems, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN is also engaged in capacity building, training and other forms of support to Iraqi authorities, ranging from training in procurement and logistics to Ministry of Trade staff to providing a start-up package to the new Ministry of Displacement and Migration, OCHA said. The UN will continue to support the ration system, which remains an essential lifeline for a majority of the Iraqi population, with about 2.3 million tons of food to be delivered by mid-2004. UN agencies are also providing nutritional support – including high-energy biscuits – for primary schools, kindergartens and social centres, according to OCHA. The UN has also been assisting the voluntary repatriation of refugees from Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as providing protection and assistance to refugees inside Iraq. It is also developing ways to facilitate the return and reintegration of IDPs in non-contentious areas in the north. The UN is prepared to expand these activities when security conditions permit and has drawn up plans for further humanitarian and reconstruction activities for 2004 and beyond in areas such as education, health, food security, governance, poverty reduction, housing and infrastructure, OCHA said.