HUMANITARIAN AID: International aid agencies said yesterday the first trickle of aid had arrived in Iraq, but warned that a few tonnes of supplies were not enough to combat the country's impending humanitarian disaster.
With the vital deep water port of Umm Qasr still not cleared for the British relief ship Sir Galahad, US soldiers brought aid trucks over the border from Kuwait, while in the north, a Medecins Sans Frontieres convoy with 10 tonnes of medical supplies was reported to be travelling towards Baghdad from Jordan.
The UN said on Tuesday that feeding Iraq's 24 million people, most of whom depend on government rations, will require its largest ever humanitarian effort.
UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan reiterated his warning to coalition forces yesterday that while the conflict continues they are responsible for the welfare of Iraqis. "I would want to remind all belligerents that they should respect international humanitarian law and take all necessary steps to protect civilians. Besides, they are responsible for the welfare of the civilian population in the area," he said.
As Russia became the latest security council member to express concern at the humanitarian situation, the World Health Organisation said that the situation in the southern city of Basra was critical. Most of the 1.7 million population had been short of water for days.
Red Crescent technicians are reported to have restored access to the main treatment plant in Basra, but a WHO spokesman, Mr Iain Simpson, said the water shortages were likely to lead to outbreaks of disease among children and old people.
"You have a population which is already weakened by lack of food, particularly the children, together with an infrastructure which was weakened by the last Gulf war. You put those two things together and you start to have a situation where there will almost inevitably be outbreaks of disease," he said.
US President George Bush, promised at the weekend that aid supplies would begin arriving within a day and a half. But setbacks for the allied troops, and the slow process of sweeping mines from Umm Qasr's port, have held up the supplies.
With pressure mounting on the coalition forces to deliver a massive humanitarian effort, the White House blamed Iraq's decision to mine the port for the delays.
Aid agencies fear the security situation may prevent them moving in their own supplies for up to two weeks more. Iraqi guerrilla tactics mean that it may be unsafe for the agencies to follow the military in as they had hoped.
"If you look at the way they are fighting in Basra, people taking off their uniforms, it is going to be house to house," said Mr Alistair Dutton, from the UK aid agency Cafod. Medecins Sans Frontieres said it had warned the US and Iraqi authorities before sending the convoy of trucks over the border from Jordan before dawn yesterday. The supplies, which include surgical kits, generators and water, are the first MSF has managed to get into Iraq since the bombing started last week.
Behind the scenes, divisions over the humanitarian effort were widening yesterday. Mr Annan was meeting yesterday with the heads of the main UN agencies to discuss resuming work as soon as the security situation permits. An emergency meeting of the Security Council was last night expected to discuss a draft resolution giving Mr Annan authority to run the oil-for-food programme, which supports nearly two-thirds of the Iraqi population. Mr Annan wants to revive it as quickly as possible, but is facing opposition from Syria, which believes taking control away from the Baghdad authorities in effect sanctions the war.
Russia and France are also opposed, fearing that the US will grab control of oil resources.
Aid agencies, which are becoming increasingly critical of the military's relief work, want UN control as soon as possible. "All humanitarian efforts should be put under the control of the United Nations," said Mr John Davidson, of Christian Aid.
UN agencies are awaiting the all clear from New York before sending their international staff back in.