Iraq: 'Oil-for-Food' Coordinator Reports Progress amid Obstacles
Iraq, Economics, 12/1/2001

The Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations Office of the Iraq Program on Friday reported mixed results from the "oil-for-food" effort, while stressing that overall, it had improved the lot of the country's people.

"Very sizeable quantities [of relief supplies] have gone in; on the other hand, there are also very sizeable problems still remain," Tun Myat told a press briefing in New York.

Among the major obstacles facing the scheme - which allows Iraq to use a portion of its petroleum revenues to purchase humanitarian relief - was some $4 billion worth of contracts on hold in the Security Council committee monitoring the sanctions against Baghdad. The programme also faced difficulties in obtaining the required visas for its staff, he added.

Since the initiation of the program in 1996, "there is general agreement that, notwithstanding the various difficulties we've had, the average lot of the people has improved."

"We're trying to fill a very tall order," explained Myat. "The sheer extent of the needs of the country are such that despite the oil revenues and the money that is available to the country, there seems to be a tremendous amount of work that still needs to be done."

Asked about priority concerns, Myat said "all the food and all the medicines in the world" would not improve the humanitarian situation of the Iraqi people in the absence of clean water and sanitation. "The biggest killer of children is not lack of food or medicine but of water and sanitation - clean water and sanitation are absolutely necessary for the children of the country," he said.

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  China seeks to maintain trade, economic cooperation with Iraq   (11/27/2001)
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