March 7, 2003
U.N. aid agencies face massive funding shortfall for Iraq
Associated Press

U.N. aid agencies are still facing a massive funding shortfall which will hamper plans to cope with a war in Iraq, officials said Friday.

By JONATHAN FOWLER, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA - U.N. aid agencies are still facing a massive funding shortfall which will hamper plans to cope with a war in Iraq, officials said Friday.

"We have just one third of the finance we need for basic preparations," said Elizabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In February, the United Nations (news - web sites) said its aid agencies would need US$123.4 million to cover the first three months of an Iraqi operation in the event of war.

Byrs told reporters the United Nations had so far received US$40 million from donors in response to the appeal. Last month the United States said it was giving US$15 million to fund U.N. refugee work.

Other donors include Britain, Australia, Switzerland and Scandinavian nations.

Aid officials say one problem is that some governments that oppose a U.S. attack on Iraq feel that giving donations at this stage would be interpreted as indicating they believe a war is inevitable.

But U.N. agencies say they need to be ready ahead of a possible conflict, because they believe a war could create anywhere from 600,000 to 1.5 million refugees. Food supplies in Iraq could run out within six weeks of the start of a war and drinking water supplies could be cut or polluted, aid officials say.

"We're in dire need of further pledges," said World Health Organization (news - web sites) spokesman Jon Liden.

WHO has been boosting supplies inside Iraq so that hospitals now have enough basic medicines to last three to four months.

"We've ensured they are as well-stocked as possible," Liden said.

World Food Program spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said the agency had stockpiled enough supplies in neighboring countries to feed 900,000 Iraqis for ten weeks.

"But if hostilities break out we may need to help 10 million," she said.

WFP is already in Iraq monitoring the distribution of food and other humanitarian goods through the oil-for-food program — the project created after U.N. sanctions were imposed that allows Iraq to sell its oil to buy food. Some 60 percent of Iraqis rely on the handouts.

"If the program is interrupted it will cause grave problems," Berthiaume said.

"We have plans, we have the capacity to respond, but the funding is lacking," she said. "We need support."

Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the agency already had spent US$25 million on stockpiling supplies for 200,000 people in Iraq's neighbor countries like Iran, Jordan and Turkey. U.N. refugee chief Ruud Lubbers visited potential camp sites in Iran on Thursday.

The agency lacks more than two-thirds of the US$60 million it will need, and has been forced to spend US$16 million from its emergency fund, Redmond said.

"UNHCR can't continue borrowing money from these emergency funds. We've got pressing needs all over the rest of the world," he said, citing the growing refugee crisis in war-ravaged West Africa and a massive program to help Afghans return home.

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