PRESS BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

The World Food Programme (WFP), as the largest humanitarian agency in the world, had its hands full today, its Executive Director, James Morris, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press briefing on the humanitarian situation in Iraq.

Mr. Morris, who had just emerged from closed consultations of the
Security Council and would brief the Council later today in a formal meeting, said his real reason for being in New York was to talk to the Council about the food situation in Southern Africa and the extraordinary impact that could have on peace and security worldwide. 

Some months ago, he said he had had reported in a briefing that Ethiopia and Eritrea would likely be the largest humanitarian crisis in 2003, with Ethiopia being the largest single country situation.  Now, conceivably, the needs in Iraq would be by far the largest undertaking the WFP had ever had. 

At the same time, he said he understood the preoccupation with Iraq, but he would remind the world that many hundreds of millions of people around the globe, particularly women and children, were severely disadvantaged and very much at risk because they did not have access to food.  Conditions in
sub-Saharan Africa were “beyond comprehension” in some places and warranted the world’s closes attention. 

He said the WFP had had a presence in Iraq since 1991 and had been involved with the “oil-for-food” programme since late 1995.  It was prepared to exercise its humanitarian responsibility to see that the civilian population of Iraq was fed over the next several months.  He saw that as a six-month interim assignment, focusing on refugees and internally displaced persons.  The first
30 days would assume that in months two, three, and four, the WFP could feed those persons and, in fact, the entire Iraqi population.  By months five and six, the oil-for-food programme should be back in place and the WFP’s work would be very much concerned with people at risk. 

That cost had been estimated at $1.2 billion, in addition to the
$100 million needed to be invested as the United Nations’ logistical agency for communications, technology, truck transport, fuel and United Nations’ humanitarian air service.  There were already some 180 employees positioned in neighbouring countries, plus a team in Cyprus.  In the worst-case scenario, that number might double to 340. 

Fund raising was going reasonably well, he said.  He had received some good support from about 10 countries and had had conversations with another 10 to 20 more.  He was optimistic that those, too, would be able to help.  It was also possible now to work through the existing contracts of the oil-for-food programme, some of which had been in the pipeline for a couple of years.  Those contracts represented some $110 million in food value, and that food could be transported to Iraq in the 45-day period given him by the Security Council. 

The resourcing for foodstuff was also going well, he continued.  He had good support from Iran, and Syria had offered to loan foodstuffs if necessary. 

The United States had made a substantial commitment, both in terms of cash and the unconfirmed availability of foodstuffs and other commodities.

On financial and human requirements, he said the WFP had been moving people from all over the world into Iraq and the surrounding area to manage that enterprise, but it had to be so careful not to put the rest of its work at risk.  The work in Africa was still extraordinary and the financial requirements would exceed in 2003 the entire financial requirements worldwide in 2002. 

He was grateful that many donors had had supplemental appropriations before their parliaments to fund the work in Iraq and had ensured that they would not cut into the investments they had planned to make elsewhere, especially Africa.  He had been especially pleased that, on the same day Japan had made a commitment to Iraq, it had announced its contribution of $90 million for Africa. 

Asked to elaborate on the food situation in Iraq, he said his sense was that a food supply had already been distributed throughout the country, which would cover the needs of each household for another month or so.  Distribution had been accelerated so people could have some food set aside in the event of conflict.  So, there was adequate food generally across the country for another month or so. 

He added that he had started moving some food from Turkey into northern Iraq.  There had been two such movements, in which dried milk had been delivered, and another 55 trucks were today delivering wheat flour.  There were places in the country free of conflict, was not occurring and the normal food distribution had continued to work.  In another 30 days or so, he hoped to be able to put the public distribution system back in place.  At best, the country only produced one third of what it needed, but it had a fairly efficient system.

Responding to a question about whether he had encountered any hesitation on the part of donors who were bitter that the war had been conducted without Security Council authority, he said the great thing about donors was that they were generally able to separate the humanitarian from political issues.  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was a solid case in point.  People with profound political differences with that Government were still focused on ensuring that the women and children had food to eat.  His sense was that the same would be true in Iraq. 

Germany last week had announced a contribution of 6.4 million euros, and many more countries were helping, including those with differing views of the political situation, he added.  No one had said to him that political issues were making him or her uncomfortable about making a humanitarian commitment.

To another question, he said that, in the long run, governments were responsible for the well-being of their citizens and for putting in place the necessary security nets.  In places where abnormal weather patterns were occurring, people needed help.  The WFP was handling twice as many natural disaster assessments as it had 10 years ago and three times as many as 35 years ago.  The world had been generous in responding to natural disasters, which were often complicated by conflict, violence and war, and terrible health problems. 

He added that he could not overstate the impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa, particularly southern Africa.  Nevertheless, the world had invested less in basic agriculture infrastructure in the last 15 years, and that simply must change.  The world should also be thoughtful about how those activities needed to be simplified, especially in Africa where women produced some 8 per cent of the food and represented an enormous percentage of the persons infected with HIV/AIDS. 

The most important approach to the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015 was to focus on the 300 million children in the world who did not go to school, he said.  In many instances, feeding a child could lead to a change in the economic complexion of Africa.  Canada had committed 75 million Canadian dollars to feed the children in Africa, and a similar commitment had been made by Switzerland.  He was enthused about how that kind of contribution could halve poverty by 2015.

Another correspondent said he had been under the impression that the responsibility for feeding the Iraqi population had rested primarily with the “occupying Power”.

Mr. Morris said that, certainly during the conflict, that rested with the occupying Power or the parties to the conflict.  There was not presently a serious humanitarian food crisis in Iraq.  His focus was on the six months after the conflict ended and where to get the resources to cover that gap before the oil-for-food programme was put back in place.

Describing the WFP’s distribution methods, he said there were all kinds of approaches.  People usually presented registration cards spelling out their entitlements.  Often, food was provided to a community, which could then use it for people engaged in building infrastructure for the community, which he called “food for work”.  In a straightforward emergency, the WFP would provide food without any conditions whatsoever.  “Food for education” was another incentive, and “food for asset creation” was another incentive for people to shore up either their family or community assets. 

Asked if he thought he would be able to feed Iraq without cutting into feeding Africa, he replied, “I don’t know. I’m optimistic by my nature.”
He said he had received tremendous support for Africa.  For example, at the same time the United States announced its plans to ship grain to Iraq, it announced commitments for southern Africa and Ethiopia.  HIV/AIDS, the weather, and governance issues drove the needs in Africa, especially in southern Africa.  Then, there were some 11 million people at risk in Ethiopia, and two thirds of the population at risk in Eritrea.  That had a different set of drivers. 

In west coastal Africa, there were huge numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons, he said.  The challenges were also very difficult in places like Angola.  Overall, there were about 2 million refugee throughout Africa, with many people malnourished and some 40 million severely at risk.  The effect on women and children was just overwhelming.  There were 11 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, and 780,000 children had been orphaned in Zimbabwe “because mom and dad had died of HIV/AIDS.  One could see a family of five led by a little girl 14 years of age and the size of his 7-year-old granddaughter -– “and

she’s mom and dad”.  One could meet a grandmother with virtually nothing, who was looking after 20 children.

In Iraq, he reiterated, the average household would have food for the next month, and had the benefit of 2,400 food calories per day.  There had been no food crisis in Iraq, but the opposite was true in Africa.  That was a very interesting dichotomy, but he was going to work very hard to see that the people of Africa were not forgotten because of the Iraqi crisis.

He said he would make the case that he just tried to make here, namely that every waking minute of every waking day meant another meeting with donors.  There had been tremendous support from the British and German Governments.  Apart from the traditional donors, he was working very hard to bring
non-traditional donors into the fold.  There had been initial contributions from Russia, including for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Africa, and India had helped for the first time in Africa.  “Like anything else, the only way to get the job done is to work at it and go flat out, and that’s what we’re trying to do”, he said. 

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