Transcript of the UN humanitarian briefing in Amman, Jordan, 8 April

[David]

Nejib Friji, UN Spokesman

Secretary-General Kofi Annan will meet Xavier Solana, European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, at 3.30 today to discuss the situation in Iraq.

The Secretary-General will be traveling to four countries, starting on Wednesday, to continue discussions about Iraq.

He will visit London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow, to meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He will return to New York on the weekend.

These four countries are actively engaged in discussion on the UN's role in postwar Iraq and he felt he wanted to have discussions at a higher level than he has been able to have in New York.

Veronique Taveau, Spokeswoman for the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq (OHCI)


In Baghdad the situation is increasingly unpredictable and more and more difficult for the civilian population. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, many of the electricity grids are not working and less than 20 % of households are receiving power. The ICRC supplied five main surgical hospitals with emergency drinking water: 80,000 litres by water tankers and 23,000 one-litre plastic bags were delivered.

Hospitals are being stretched to their limits, and personnel are facing increasing difficulties getting to work.

The ICRC provided additional drinking water to several suburbs in central and northern Baghdad that are not connected to the water network.

Electricity supply is limited, but hospitals are hooked to emergency feeder lines, and have power for at least a few hours every day.

Looting continues in Umm Qasr and Basrah, including the port. The Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, is pursuing the matter with the coalition forces and reminds the coalition that under the Hague Convention (IV) of 1907), as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Occupying Power has the duty to ensure law and order in the occupied territory.

On 6 April the United Nations Office of Project Services, UNOPS, carried out a survey, which has identified 266,018 IDPs in the three northern governorates of Dahuk, Erbil and Souleimaniyah. Eighty-nine percent of them are staying in host families, just under 10% are in public buildings and around 1% in the open.

The World Food Programme continued food distribution in the three northern governorates. Families confirmed that their remaining household food stocks would last between 15 to 25 days.

Maarten Roest, Spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP)

Yesterday, the Executive Director of the WFP addressed the Security Council in New York, warning that despite a good initial response to the agency's US$1.3 billion emergency appeal for Iraq, a massive shortfall remained and more funds were desperately needed. You will find a press release outside this room.

With a large convoy rolling into Northern Iraq from Turkey today, WFP is demonstrating that its first major corridor into Iraq is functioning well.

Nearly half of the wheat flour WFP has brought in from Turkey over the past few days has already been distributed.

A total 6,000 tonnes of wheat flour, donated by the Canadian government is to be delivered in the coming week.

Keeping a close watch on the food needs of IDPs, WFP staff in Sulaymaniyah yesterday distributed rice, vegetable oil and sugar to 47 IDP families (274 people) in Bazyan camp near the border with territory controlled by the government of Iraq.

A further 76 IDP families (428 people) are receiving food today, after WFP staff found them to be in urgent need of food assistance.

In Dahuk, many families who have fled to rural areas are reluctant to return home, despite their difficult living conditions. Families in Erbil have told WFP staff that they are reducing their daily consumption in order to conserve their food stocks - which they expect to last from 15-25 days.

Wivina Belmonte, Spokesman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF's trucking operations into North and Southern Iraq continue today.

Five trucks carrying 31-metric tonnes of supplies have been loaded in the port of Mersin in Turkey and are on their way to the border town of Silopi, to go across Harbour Gate into Northern Iraq tomorrow.

UNICEF's supplies will go to Dohuk and be distributed from there. Items include: hospital beds, latrines, hospital equipment, and health care supplies (syringes, thermometers, vaccine storage).

Another eleven trucks are on their way into Southern Iraq today, to Um Qail, South Basra, Safwan and Zubair. Since UNICEF began its humanitarian deliveries from Kuwait, 85 trucks have taken life-saving supplies into Southern Iraq.

Our drivers have been an excellent source of information, helping us target the right supplies to the right places so that children in need and hospitals lacking medicines and supplies, get them.

UNICEF is concerned, however, by reports from our drivers of scenes of looting in certain areas they have visited - in Zubair especially. They say schools are being looted and that while the situation is chaotic it is manageable. People are, very simply, desperate and need to be reassured that aid trucks coming in, will continue to supply them with the items they need.

The looting in schools is a dual concern. The obvious one is the additional damage this does to an educational infrastructure that was already sorely rundown.

The other concern is with schools, and any other locations where intense fighting took place, becoming places of curiosity for children. Now that fighting in these areas has subsided, and children can leave their homes more freely, there is a natural curiosity to visit places where fighting took place and a natural tendency to be drawn to souvenirs and remnants of war. Souvenirs of war can be lethal souvenirs for children.

Peter Kessler, Spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR)

Small numbers of Iraqis are starting to trickle into Jordan and Syria.

In Jordan, one woman with two children was admitted today, while another Iraqi woman and her teenage son entered the country late yesterday. An elderly Iraqi woman suffering from a serious illness arrived earlier on Monday. These people are currently being accommodated at the Red Crescent/IOM site in Ruweished.

To the north, three Iraqi families representing 11 people entered Syria yesterday at the Abu Kamal border and were transported this morning to the El Hol camp. Another six arrived on Monday via the Al Yarubiyeh crossing, located near Iraq's principle northern city of Mosul. As the Syrian government has adopted a flexible, open border policy, and does not oblige new arrivals to stay in UNHCR's El Hol camp, they traveled onwards from the border, apparently to Damascus. A group of 14 Iraqis who arrived on 23 March were similarly allowed to proceed to the Syrian capital.

We're so far not seeing a refugee exodus, but clearly some Iraqis are starting to leave, braving an uncertain security situation on routes leading west while paying the high price demanded by taxis plying the roads. No movements have been reported towards any of Iraq's other borders.

The 20 Palestinians who were held up in no-man's-land at Jordan's Al Karama border were moved to Ruwaished this morning. Also yesterday, three families from the 33 Palestinians who were previously allowed to enter Jordan were permitted to travel to Amman.

Eastern Jordan is right now being swept by a driving sand storm since early this morning. One of our pre-fabricated warehouses at Ruweished was destroyed, and several others have been damaged.

While the number of reported Iraqi refugee arrivals is very low, Iraqis back in their homeland still face many dangers.

This is perhaps the most worrisome phase of the war, as millions of civilians are caught up amidst the constantly shifting frontlines and changing allegiances. Curfews reportedly declared by the Iraqi government from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. have certainly worked to keep people indoors, as have other reported warnings for civilians to stay at home, including from the US-led forces.

While all Iraqis are confronted by a precarious humanitarian situation, another real danger they face is the breakdown of law and order and the threats posed by irregular, armed elements. Iraq is no stranger to the violence that can tear communities apart and drive people into exile. The belligerents have the responsibility under the Geneva Conventions to maintain law and order and care for civilians in areas under their control. It is absolutely vital that all parties work to ensure that civilian population's humanitarian and security needs are met.

Meanwhile, I would like to draw your attention to UN refugee agency's web site, www.unhcr.ch Of the more than 13 million "hits" recorded last month, some 1.3 million were sustained visits. The most popular part of the web site last month was our new page for the Iraq situation, http://www.unhcr.ch/iraq This page has regular updates and news stories, as well as useful data and background on the events of the last Gulf war.

Chris Lom, Spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

KUWAIT - An IOM team left Kuwait for the Iraqi port of Umm Kasr this morning to assess the numbers of internally displaced people in the city and to report on the situation of a group of 25 internally displaced Iraqi families reportedly sheltering in a former UN building. The joint IOM / UN World Food Programme mission is expected to report their findings tomorrow.

JORDAN - Last night 100 km / hour winds hit the Karama border between Jordan and Iraq, destroying several tents in the Ruweished transit camp for third country nationals fleeing Iraq.

The Jordanian authorities allowed sixteen Palestinians, one Sudanese and an Iraqi family of three previously trapped in No Man's Land between the two countries to cross the border, where they were picked up by IOM buses.

The high winds are currently continuing and most of the camp's 245 residents are now sheltering in IOM buses and other vehicles.

The total number of third country nationals arriving in Jordan from Iraq since the beginning of the war is now 776. Of these, 531 have returned home with IOM assistance. The Ruweished camp is run by the Jordanian Red Crescent, supported by the IFRC and IOM.

SYRIA - Fighting on the Iraqi side of the Abu Kamal border crossing point subsided yesterday and nine Sudanese fleeing Iraq arrived safely in Syria.

IOM buses transported them to the Syrian Red Crescent's El Heri transit camp. They are expected to leave for Damascus with IOM tomorrow to fly back to the Sudan.

Today a further 15 Sudanese crossed into Syria at Abu Kamal. None of them have travel documents and IOM has contacted the Sudanese embassy in Damascus to facilitate their entry and onward travel.

At the southern Al Tanf crossing point, 11 Iraqi asylum seekers have arrived in the past 24 hours. Early this morning an IOM bus took them to the El Hol refugee camp.

At the northern Yarubiya crossing point, two Sudanese have arrived over the past 24 hours.

IOM Syria has repatriated 237 third country nationals fleeing Iraq since the beginning of the conflict. They include 160 Sudanese, 32 Moroccans, 24 Egyptians and one Eritrean.

Fadela Chaib, Spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization continues to be seriously concerned about the level of civilian casualties in Baghdad and the impact this is having on hospitals. Reports from the Iraqi capital say that hospitals and hospital staff are being overwhelmed by the number of casualties being brought in for treatment. This is putting huge pressure on both medical supplies and medical staff, who are working round the clock to provide emergency treatment.

There are reports that some hospitals are beginning to run short of crucial surgical and medical supplies. Before this conflict began, WHO said that there were sufficient supplies in Iraq in the short term for normal medical needs. The current situation is anything but normal. Therefore, hospitals are running short of emergency supplies, including antibiotics and anaesthetics.

WHO has a truckload of emergency surgical and medical supplies in Jordan which are ready to cross into Iraq to travel to Baghdad as soon as the security situation allows. WHO hopes this will very soon become possible. WHO has eight trauma kits which are vital for surgical operations. The kits contain medication to treat 800 people with anaesthetic drugs.

We have also received 23 water testing kits. Access to clean water is currently limited in some areas and the quality of water has to be controlled to avoid outbreaks of cholera and other diarrhoeal and water borne diseases. WHO has also pre-positioned several laboratory tests to diagnose diarrhoeal diseases. A total of 38 WHO New Emergency Health Kits are also in Amman, ready to be shipped to Iraq. An Emergency Health Kit contains one ton of essential drugs, supplies and instruments. These kits can meet the basic health needs of 380 000 people for a period of three months.

The issue of negotiated access for humanitarian work is very urgent and WHO considers the speeding up of the delivery of medical supplies as essential in order to build up emergency stocks.

Nadine Shamounki, Spokeswoman for the UN Development Programme (UNDP)

In Hawraman, Sulaymaniyah - where 85 houses had been destroyed and 300-350 houses were partially damaged due to bombing, the water network and the sewerage have also been affected. UNDP has provided a generator for the area.

In Dohuk - The power supply from Mosul to Dohuk governorate was interrupted on 3 April, and electricity has not yet been reinstated to the network, which feeds Dohuk and Zakho. The water supply is affected by power shortages; if the power is not resumed then it will have negative effects on the population.

UNDP-ENRP has installed two generators recently in Aqra in the Dohuk Governorate as standby facilities for water pumps.

In Soran, Erbil - UNDP-ENRP has recently repaired generators to service basic humanitarian needs - several of them are used for water pumping as well as one in a hospital.

On the IDPs camps in the north:

In Sulaimaniyah: UNDP-ENRP teams conducted a needs-assessment mission to the Bazian camp. ENRP will assist with connectivity to the network or provide mobile generators, as well as support the emergency needs of other UN agencies.

Questions and Answers

Q: Caroline Holly, BBC: You have mentioned these trucks that will move very soon, has any progress been made & what specifically are you waiting for, what needs to change before you can get those trucks moving?

A: F. Chaib: As I said, we are looking at ways to have them shift to Baghdad, we are making some progress towards having all the paper work in order to ship some medical supplies into Baghdad. Nothing has happened until now, the situation is not good & the safety of the drivers is not ensured.

Q: (inaudible)? the US & UK forces to get the trucks in, can you do that?

A: F. Chaib: No, I think they are waiting to just have a better understanding of the whole situation & see with the other agencies to send them. But all options are open for the time being; nothing was decided.

Q: UNHCR, what about new arrivals in Jordan, how old are the two children approximately & what kind of illnesses are the elderly Iraqi women suffering from? These people are currently being accommodated at the Red Crescent, why not the UN camps?

A: P. Kessler: I can give you some details later if necessary, but we are trying not to turn a small number of people into curiosities & to divulge their personal problems of illness. Right now they are in the IOM Red Crescent site because it is open & they have other facilities there, obviously they will be pretty lonely in the Hashimite Organization site, as they will be the only people there.

Q: Did WHO register any cases of cholera?

A: F. Chaib: For the time being there are no reports of any sort of outbreak. There was some confusion in some reports, it isn't because hospitals are crowded with patients that we are going to have cholera, it is expected when there is a shortage in water or water is contaminated. For the time beginning there has been no report of any outbreak of communicable diseases, cholera included.

Q: Today we saw the brutal killings of some journalist, a Jordanian one, Spanish & from Reuters; do you condemn that?

Q: N. Friji: Of course we are very saddened by the news of the death of journalists covering this war, they are like you our partners in this context. We are also concerned by the higher toll of civilian casualties & wounded; they are our main concern.

V. Taveau: We can only strongly reiterate what we said before & the parties to the conflict have the responsibility to respect International Humanitarian Law under all circumstances. They have the duty to protect the life of the civilian population & that is the real concern at the moment.

Q: Why are they getting the journalist out of Baghdad?

A: N. Friji: We have no news of anyone getting the journalists out of Baghdad.

Journalist Statement: We have a big problem now, six journalists are dead in the Palestine Hotel & the on the other side we have journalist from Europe, US & Arabs.

N. Friji: We are saddened by the news of the killing of journalists, & we call on the belligerents to ensure the protection of civilians in this conflict.

Q: I heard in Jordan Radio that there is a fight between Iraqi & American forces here in Jordan; is that correct?

A: N. Friji: I have no news about that & cannot comment on it.

Q: Simon Young: UNHCR mentioned six Iraqis arriving in Jordan, can you tell me if they have refugee status or some other status? About the 33 Palestinians, do they have Iraqi citizenships?

A: P. Kessler: Obviously right now, all Iraqis who are outside their country of origin, are under the temporary protection of those countries & should not be sent back; so yes, you could say all Iraqis outside their country have some type of refugee status, that number of people probably run into millions. Right now of course, yes the people who entered Jordan, like in Syria, are under temporary protection & those people who need to be sheltered in the refugee camps, will be sheltered at the refugee sites.

All Palestinians are nationals of Palestine. Some of those who entered Jordan have various travel documents, like Iraq or Egypt, some of them might have expired, and so they are Palestinian nationals.

Q: Michael Jansen, Irish Times: Is there any information on what is happening in the towns along the rivers, for instance, Karbala, Najaf & Nassreriah?

A: V. Taveau: We don't have information on that. The only thing we have are the concerns brought by ICRC about the water supplies in the different cities. We have no UN personnel there, so it is very difficult to assess the situation at the moment.

Q: Are the Sudanese refugee, the ones that were at the Iraq border, are they still there, the ones that refused to go?

A: P. Kessler: We are screening some of the third country nationals, like the Somalis & the Sudanese, some of them are still in the third country national sites. None of the third country national, neither the Palestinians nor other national are at the border, they were all allowed in this morning, the remaining numbers.

Q: BBC: Do you have any sense of how much the medical supplies in Baghdad are going to last?

A: F. Chaib: Before this conflict began, WHO said there were sufficient supplies in Iraq in the short term for normal conception, for three months, actually the current situation is far from normal, so there will be a shortage of medicines very quickly, if the number of injuries is going to rise. I think there are some specific drugs they are in need of now, so there is going to be a shortage very soon.

Q: You cannot give any time line?

A: F. Chaib: No we cannot.

W. Belmonte: I can't help you on the time line, but certainly in southern Iraq, if we take that as a snap shot; towns that our convoys got into in southern Iraq. The first thing they asked for after water, were medical supplies. If you take into consideration the reports we are hearing from the ICRC & others of civilian casualties at the rate of a hundred per hour & today they stopped counting casualties because they can't keep up. The situation is critical, but if you want us to add a time line, that is difficult to do. I think the portrait has been painted in a horrific way.

Q: On the hills of this illegal shelling against Baghdad, there will be more causality. Didn't you plans to cope with such a situation as the UN declared that 65% of the population is in need of helping?

A: V. Taveau: From the humanitarian point of view, we are all concerned about the situation in Baghdad. We have been to Baghdad, we know all the places where the bombing is taking place, we know the places were people are leaving & we also know that there are a lot of civilians killed at the moment, that is a great concern of ours. As you know there is no UN international Staff in Baghdad or Iraq at the moment, so we can only hope, that that situation will be over as soon as possible & that we can deliver assistance to the Iraqi people as soon as possible.

F. Chaib: Before the beginning of this war WHO, for example, has positioned a lot of medical supplies inside Iraq, mainly in the north, because we have offices there. As you know the access is very difficult, if we take the access of Jordan, we have a lot of medical supplies for trauma, cholera, etc. now we need to have access to Baghdad & other cities. We are now working with our regular budget & we need more financial help; WHO has appealed for more than $325 million, but we are just working with our regular budget. The most important is to get access to people who need medical supplies, food & other supplies.

Q: Do you have any idea on the figures of how many people are wounded in the last two days & do you have any independent information on the accidents outside Baghdad?

A: V. Taveau: On the number of injured people, I can only say what ICRC mentioned yesterday, which are 100 people every hour in Baghdad's hospitals. That is the only figure we have at the moment to share with you, until we have other information to update you.

Q: What about civilians in Baghdad?

A: C. Lom: We don't have any reliable data about that on this point.

Q: Aida Taweel, Al Dustour: I think protecting journalists falls under the mandate of UNESCO; don't you think it is about time the UN takes action to do something for the journalists surrounded or besieged inside Palestine Hotel, similar to the EU initiative right now?

A: N. Friji: Let me clarify that these journalists are not besieged; they are professionals like you, who chose to go & cover the war. Nonetheless, that does not expose them to any targeting or hazard or risk. We said that saddens us, they are our partners & we reiterated the call, that they too like all civilians should be protected not targeted.

Q: Austria Politics TV: The use of Bush & Blair about defense & security from mass destructive weapons means for me (inaudible) politics. Do we really fight for this?

A: N. Friji: We respect your opinion, however, all we can say is this war was launched without the Security Council authority. The Secretary General declared that our main concern is the Iraqi people & the UN in accordance with International Law, calls for the protection of civilians & he also stressed & hopes that this war will end as soon as possible, so the UN system could undertake its duty in playing an important role in the reconstruction in the humanitarian assistance.