Iraqi people are in a dire need for U.N. aid

BAGHDAD, April 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Although the daunting task of coordinating the United Nations' largest ever humanitarian relief operation is in full swing, lawlessness and free-for-all looting from Baghdad to Basra pose a major obstacle to aiding the Iraqi people.

"Some goods were getting through to the north from Turkey, but now people are experiencing total chaos in Iraq, it is difficult to deliver any aid," Sonya Dumont, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNHCI) said Saturday April 12.

"The security situation just doesn't permit us to go in right now," she said. "It's chaotic in Baghdad ... it's a catastrophe."

UNHCI Ramiro Lopes da Silva has warned that millions of Iraqis face a nightmare of starvation and poverty, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

According to the UNHCI's "medium scenario" it envisages supplying food to 10 million people and there being conditions of aggravated malnutrition and even epidemics like cholera and measles.

Although information is sketchy on the ground, Dumont conceded that the medium scenario has "probably" already been reached.

Millions of Iraqis are in desperate need of drinking water and effective sanitation to prevent the spread of epidemics as searing 40 to 50 degree Celsius (104 to 122 degree Fahrenheit) temperatures beckon.

Even before the start of the U.S.-led war on March 20, an estimated half-a-million tonnes of raw sewage was mixing with the drinking water system.

"We have more than 24 U.N. agencies and NGOs here to help us prepare, plan and coordinate assistance to the Iraqi people," said Dumont.

Experts say the Iraqi population has been "debilitated" by poverty after 13 years of harsh U.N. sanctions.

Some 60 percent of Iraqis were dependent on the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program, before it was suspended days before the U.S.-led invasion.

NGOs Struggling

Meanwhile, the few aid groups still operating in Baghdad are finding their work increasingly dangerous and futile in light of the prevailing turmoil.

Among the only six non-governmental organizations permitted to work before the war, two remain today: Premiere Urgence and Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF).

As looters ran amok in the capital and hospitals were vandalized, plundered and abandoned by staff, the humanitarian situation turned from bad to worse.

"We are trying to get a general overview -- we only have isolated information -- and the needs are immense," Morten Rostrup of MSF told AFP.

On Friday, April 11, two MSF team members who went missing a week ago were released from an Iraqi prison, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced.

The MSF members had been held at the massive Abu Gharib prison in Baghdad's northern suburbs since around April 2, which had prompted the organization to suspend its activities in Iraq.

The ICRC halted operations after one of its staff members was killed in crossfire in the east of the Iraqi capital Tuesday.

For the first time in weeks, three Premiere Urgence trucks left Jordan laden with blankets, bed linen and stretchers Friday, April 11, bound for the Baghdad suburb of Abu Gharib.

"Above all, it is key to restore security, particularly at the hospitals. If not, all of our efforts would be in vain," said the group's director of operations, Frederic Bonamy, who said he saw bandits steal an ambulance Wednesday, the day Baghdad fell to U.S. troops.

Bonamy is enraged by the situation and has a few choice words for the U.S. forces.

"You entered a city. Civil society broke down. It is your responsibility to guarantee at least minimal operation of infrastructure -- hospitals, police forces, fire-fighters, water, electricity," he said.

The first priority of both Premiere Urgence and MSF is a needs assessment at the hospitals.

"We aim to consolidate our efforts, to achieve security and to get staff back in some hospitals before getting the word out to the population," he said.

Several Iraqis had bluntly accused the Anglo-American forces of instigating, or at the least encouraging the looting and anarchy in the Iraqi capital and other major cities across Iraq.