PRESS BRIEFING ON IRAQ HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

An element, that remained true in any conflict was that United Nations humanitarian assistance should be provided independently, impartially and under strict control by the Organization, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Briefing the press were representatives of United Nations agencies working to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq:  Darko Mocibob, Programme Officer, Office of the Iraq Programme; Phillip Ward, Programme Adviser, World Food Programme (WFP); and Oliver Ulich, Humanitarian Affairs Officer, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  They responded to correspondents’ numerous questions, which ranged from the difficulties in distributing the food “under the United States’ military umbrella” to the details of the “oil-for-food” programme.

The programme, which allows Baghdad to use part of its oil revenues for food and medicine and is the sole source of sustenance for 60 per cent of the country's 27.1 million people, was temporarily halted on 17 March out of concern for safety and security of United Nations personnel in the country.  Last Friday, 28 March, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to adjust the oil-for-food programme and give the Secretary-General authority to facilitate the delivery and receipt of goods contracted by the Government of Iraq for the humanitarian needs of its people. 

Describing the current status of the oil-for-food programme, Mr. Mocibob said that it had $10.1 billion worth of goods and supplies contracted in the pipeline, $2.9 billion in uncommitted funds in escrow and $5.8 billion in approved contracts that were unfunded.  The Council had indicated that some of the escrow could be used to cover additional costs involved in renegotiating pipeline contracts and redirecting shipments to the most useful locations.
The announcement of new delivery locations was expected as soon as agencies had completed their assessments of the pipeline and needs inside the country.

He also clarified that the adoption of the Security Council resolution gave authority to the Secretary-General for 45 days to facilitate the delivery and receipt of goods contracted by the Government of Iraq through the
oil-for-food programme for humanitarian needs.  The pipeline includes food items worth $2.4 billion and health supplies valued at about $374 million.
The Security Council had already identified about $1 billion worth of medicines, health supplies, foodstuffs and other materials as priorities for shipment, but that was an ongoing process. 

First of all, it was necessary to establish the status of goods, to see if they could be shipped within 45 days, he said.  The problem was that, traditionally, the United Nations had had nothing to do with the pipeline information.  It had been involved in the approval of contracts and issuance of letters of credit.  The Organization also stepped in once the goods had been delivered to one of the five authorized entry points.  It had not been mandated to seek information on the status of goods as far as production and delivery were concerned.

Now, suppliers with contracted goods in transit to Iraq had been asked to identify the location of their in-transit goods on land and sea.  Tomorrow, throughout its web site, the Office of the Iraq Programme would inform the suppliers which contracts had been selected in the first batch as priorities, and which ones would follow.  Suppliers would be requested to respond quickly on how fast they would be able to ship the goods.

There was a limit on how the unencumbered funds could be used under the oil-for-food programme, he said.  Primarily, they could be used for unfunded contracts already approved under the programme.  The only exception could be made for urgently needed medical items that could not be found under the already approved contracts.  The unencumbered funds would also be used to cover extra expenses, including transport costs, quality control and storage.

Regarding the oil sales, Mr. Mocibob said that there had been no oil shipments under the programme since 20 March.  Whatever had already been pumped belonged either to the buyers who had signed the contracts, or to the State of Iraq.

Mr. Ward added that the resolution provided for “a very finite list of purposes” and it would be a mistake to think that the funds could be diverted for use outside the oil-for-food programme.  In many cases, that programme had little to do with separate operations that United Nations agencies were now trying to start in support of humanitarian emergency needs, including, for example, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) operations in neighbouring countries and support to internally displaced persons.  Those would have to be funded separately under the “flash appeal” for humanitarian operations. 

The WFP’s main concern was to support the public food distribution system in Iraq and ensure that it kept operating under good management, he added.
It was too early to determine the exact state of that system in the central and southern parts of the country, because the international staff had not yet had a chance to make an assessment of the situation there.  In the north of Iraq, the system continued to work, and WFP national staff had been able to continue limited food distribution there. 

He also emphasized the enormity of tasks for the WFP.  Some 162 food contracts worth some $506 million had been identified in the pipeline that the programme would be involved in, and suppliers from 23 countries would be contacted to see if they would be able to deliver the commodities within the very short time frame authorized by the Council.  The WFP component of the appeal to the donor community was over $1.1 billion.  Once contracts for a certain amount had been identified that could be delivered under the
oil-for-food programme, that amount would be subtracted from the appeal. 

Regarding coordination of humanitarian efforts in Iraq, Mr. Ulich said that, even before the conflict, there had been a great degree of coordination between the Iraqi authorities and relevant United Nations agencies, which was not limited to the food distribution system.  That coordination continued to the extent that the WFP delivered supplies to the areas under the control of the Iraqi Government.  Of course, the authorities would be responsible for actual ration distribution, and very close coordination would be required for that. 

He also stressed that approved and funded contracts and approved and unfunded contracts covered basically the same types of supplies.  Many of those were not suitable for emergency purposes, with the big exception of food.
There was a whole range of other urgently needed supplies, including tents, water purification tablets and other humanitarian items.  Those would need to be funded under a mechanism separate from the oil-for-food programme, and a humanitarian appeal had been issued for that purpose last Friday. 

To several questions regarding the “ground rules” of the interaction between the United Nations personnel and military actors in Iraq, correspondents were told that the Secretary-General had recently issued guidelines in that regard.  The use of military assets was always the very last resort, which needed to be specifically approved and would be resorted to if there was no other way of delivering humanitarian aid.  The occupying powers had the obligation to ensure law and order in any area that they controlled, creating an environment where the United Nations could operate independently and provide assistance to those who needed it most.  There was also a call in
the Security Councilresolution on all parties to provide for safety and security of humanitarian personnel to allow their full and unimpeded access to all areas.

Prior to providing assistance, the United Nations needed to carry out a security assessment.  Once the situation had been deemed secure, the WFP would send in its own logistics team to evaluate the storage capacity of the port and the food distribution system.  Every effort should be made to sustain the existing food supply network, as the resolution stated.

Asked if the United Nations would allow the United States and
United Kingdom military to distribute its humanitarian assistance if fighting continued in parts of the country, the speakers said that it was only one of the options, if there was no other way.  An assessment of the situation needed to be carried out first.  Any use of military assets for the distribution of humanitarian supplies was “very much the last resort”.

To questions about whether the United Nations needed to pay compensation to Iraq if it changed contracts, and if it needed Iraq’s approval to tap into the contracts, speakers said that under the Council resolution, the
Secretary-General and his representatives were authorized to negotiate and agree on necessary adjustments to priority contracts and letters of credit, which would allow the goods to be shipped and delivered to the people of Iraq within 45 days. 

The existing contracts were not cancelled or broken in any way, and thus no compensation to the Government was involved.  While the funds under
the oil-for-food programme had been earmarked for specific purposes, including oil spare parts, for example, one of the paragraphs of the resolution authorized transfer of unencumbered funds between the accounts on an exceptional and reimbursable basis, as necessary, to ensure the delivery of essential humanitarian supplies.

Regarding the monitoring of contracts, Mr. Mocibob said that, traditionally, it had been the responsibility of buyers and suppliers to work

out the details of shipment and production.  The Office had not been involved in that.  In terms of monitoring, it would only check the list of contracts against which no deliveries had been made.  Such lists were then passed on to the Government, which had an option of asking for those contracts to be cancelled.  Now, the Office had compiled a unified questionnaire, which would be presented to the suppliers.  Only then would the programme know how much of the amount that had been identified as the first batch likely to be shipped within 45 days. 

It was possible to make some projections on the basis of past experience, however, he said.  Between August 2002 and February 2003, monthly arrivals for all sectors varied between $300 million and $700 million.

To that, Mr. Ward added that one of the concerns was that some of the suppliers had actually reduced the amount of shippings prior to the outbreak of the conflict.  Sometimes, it took a long time to reactivate those contracts.
It was another reason why such a large amount had been requested from donors, because their contributions would allow the Organization to purchase items within the region, rather than wait for commodities to arrive.

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