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U.N. Designates $395 million in Goods for Iraq
The United Nations said Tuesday it has identified $395 million in priority humanitarian goods that can be shipped to Iraq by the May 12 deadline adopted last month by the Security Council.
Using the Oil-for-Food money that belongs to the people of Iraq in the first place.
Most of the goods were in transit when the war started and will be routed to Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Iran for transshipment to Iraq, said the U.N. office that runs the oil-for-food humanitarian program. The priority items include $181.7 million worth of food, $103.8 million of agricultural goods and $46.1 million of medicine and health supplies. In an effort to speed aid to Iraq, the Security Council on March 28 authorized Secretary-General Kofi Annan to review nearly $16 billion in contracts already approved under the program and give priority to those that could be used immediately for humanitarian relief in Iraq. The U.N. program, which uses Iraq's oil revenues primarily to pay for food and medical supplies, used to had been feeding 60 percent of the country's 22 million people. It was suspended on March 17 when Annan ordered all U.N. international staff to leave the country just before U.S. and British forces launched their military attack. The Security Council resolution gave Annan authority for only 45 days, which means goods must be shipped by May 12.
How about returning all the unspent money to the Iraqi Interim Authority? Can't wait to hear Dominque argue against that.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=13126