Transcript of the UN humanitarian briefing in Amman, Jordan, 15 April

[David]

Nejib Friji, UN Spokesman

The Secretary General is expected to arrive to Athens via London in one hour. He will be attending the European Conference that will open on 17 April. He will deliver a statement and hold bilateral meetings with several European heads of state on Iraq, The Israeli Palestinian conflict and other issues.

On Syria, the Secretary General is concerned that recent statements directed at Syria should not contribute to a wider destabilization in a region already affected heavily by the war in Iraq.

The Secretary General welcomes recent clarifications in this regard, and reiterates his strongly held view that any claim of threats to international peace and security should be addressed in conformity with the provisions of the Charter.

Two Press Releases by UNESCO on Iraqi cultural heritage are available outside.

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

In the last hours we have received word from officials in the government's crisis management center that seven Iraqis and four Palestinians, most of whom have been stuck in the no-man's-land at Al Karama for the last week, will be allowed into Jordan and to the camps at Ruweished.

We continue to approach the government regarding the continued need to admit people fleeing insecurity in Iraq.

The no-man's-land has been crowded in recent days, particularly since late yesterday, when to our surprise, US forces in Iraq brought a frightened group of more than 110 Iranian refugees who had fled Al Tash refugee camp due to looting and insecurity, up to the border.

It is unclear so far exactly what occurred at Al Tash to cause these refugees to flee. We are asking the government to allow this group into the country so that they can be sheltered at Ruwaished. Al Tash camp, about 120 kilometers west of Baghdad, holds more than 14,000 Iranian refugees, most of whom are ethnic Kurds.

Also stuck in the no-man's-land is another group of about 90 Iranians who began arriving at the frontier last Friday. All holders of refugee documents from various European and North American countries, these persons need to be properly interviewed. We've informed the government that they should not be summarily sent back to Iraq.

Conditions at the border are very primitive, and sanitation is poor. These groups are accomodated in tents and a large pre-fabricated warehouse provided by UNHCR and the Red Crescent. UNHCR has distributed blankets and other basic assistance, the International Committee of the Red Cross has provided food and stoves, while the Red Crescent has distributed clothing, washing soap and other assistance.

In Syria, we currently have more than 210 Iraqis in El Hol camp. Our mobile team that visited the Al Yarubiyeh border crossing in northeastern Syria today saw two minibuses carrying families back into Iraq. Syrian border guards told us that so far today 68 Iraqis had gone back over that crossing, about two hours west of Mosul. One of our mobile team's plans to visit the Abu Kamal frontier on Wednesday.

Geoffrey Keele, Spokesman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF, together with the WHO met with Queen Rania of Jordan today to discuss opportunities to assist the children of Iraq in improving their health and well being.

The Queen, who is an international leader in UNICEF's global movement for children, expressed a desire to assist UNICEF in helping children overcome the trauma of war. Her Majesty also expressed a willingness to work on issues of early childhood development over the long-term, to ensure that - after so many years of warfare, sanctions and strife - Iraqi children receive the best start to life possible.

Community participation in the protection and distribution of vital aid continues to improve in areas of southern Iraq.

UNICEF has been delivering clean water to Umm Qasr for more than 10 days now. However, with people lining up with buckets to receive the aid, it takes four and a half hours to empty each water tanker.

UNICEF preferred to set up giant 5,000 litre water bladders - which can be filled in 20 minutes - if the people of Umm Qasr could ensure they would not be looted. Two days ago, UNICEF delivered two bladders and the whole community pitched it to build platforms for them. When we returned to Umm Qasr today, the community had taken it upon themselves to build fences to protect the bladders.

UNICEF will be delivering a further four bladders tomorrow, and another four by the end of the week. Together, these bladders will meet the communities water needs.

More initiatives like this in other parts of Iraq would speed up the distribution, and effectiveness, of aid delivery, ensuring that those in need are cared for.

In Az Zubair, preliminary findings of a UNICEF assessment team have reported that drugs and other medical supplies are now reaching the hospital there, but there is a pressing need for doctors and other staff to go back to work.

The big concern in Az Zubair is that they only have two weeks of chlorine left for water treatment. Prior to the outbreak of war, they had a nine-month supply. Little is left as a result of looting.

Even the water pumping station was looted. The thieves even dismantled the brick wall surrounding the station. Virtually nothing is left. Further complicating the chlorine situation is that the chlorine factory in Basra, which supplied the South, is currently on fire.

I cannot underestimate the importance of clean water, especially at this time of year. Water disease and diarrhea are rampant in the south at this time of year and as the temperature soars, and given the current lack of water, these problems are only going to become worse. Water gives life, but bad water can kill.

An update on the humanitarian convoy heading to Iraq's Al-Fao peninsula from Iran which we announced yesterday. The trucks carrying 120,000 litres of water reached the Shalamcheh border crossing point in good time this morning, but were delayed by some necessary bureaucratic procedures. We now expect the convoy to cross the border tomorrow morning.

On a final note, we mentioned yesterday that the schools in Northern Iraq had re-opened. However, there are two schools we know of - in Erbil - that have failed to re-open, the reason being that they are still being used as accommodation by US troops. We have made our unhappiness at this situation clearly known to the relevant military authorities.

Melanie Zipperer, Spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO)

1. Hospitals update
The World Health Organization has taken part in new assessments of the health situation in northern and southern Iraq. WHO joined the first humanitarian assessment team to travel to Az Zubair and Safwan, close to Basra in the south. The WHO team in Kirkuk has also further investigated the health situation in that town. The International Committee of the Red Cross has also made assessment visits to most of the major hospitals in Baghdad.

It is clear from all this information that severe and disturbing problems exist in many parts of Iraq. The most urgent health issues are the lack of security for health staff, patients and supplies; shortage of clean water and electricity; shortage of money to meet the costs of running hospitals, as well as the expenses of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff; and shortages or impending shortages of particular medicines and other medical supplies.

There is also a continuing high risk of outbreaks of diarrhoeal disease due to a combination of the lack of clean, safe water, rising temperatures, and severe problems in the sanitation system due in part to the lack of electricity. This risk was underlined by health staff working in both Az Zubair and Safwan. There are also reports that at least one area of Baghdad has been partially flooded by waste water, with the potential to cause increased levels of illness.

2. Coordination
WHO is continuing to work intensively through the Health Sector Coordination Group with international and non-governmental organizations to coordinate work to rehabilitate the Iraqi health system. It is vitally important that all work across the health sector is well coordinated, otherwise there is a risk that different organizations will send duplicate or inappropriate supplies, that staff needs will not be properly assessed and that the health of the Iraqi people will not be given the priority it deserves.

The first step in this coordination work is systematic assessments of need in order to prioritize responses. This is being done with increasing urgency as the security situation allows. Information from these assessments - carried out by WHO, the ICRC, other UN agencies and NGOs - is then shared and analyzed.

WHO and its partners in the Health Sector Coordination Group have agreed on a process to coordinate the purchase and delivery of supplies; to coordinate the movement of convoys to Baghdad and to other parts of Iraq; and to provide advice based on the essential drug list of Iraq as a reference for procurement.

It is particularly important that drug donations and other offers of assistance are properly prioritized, and that supply provision is coordinated. There is no benefit to Iraq - and possibly harm - if unnecessary or inappropriate supplies are sent to neighbouring countries or to Iraq itself. The needs are great and are becoming increasingly clear. Medicines and other supplies sent to Iraq must be designed to respond to urgent priorities, and these must be met before any further supplies are sent.

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

We finally succeeded to get in contact with our UNDP colleagues in Baghdad who confirmed that all our UNDP national staff members are safe.

They also confirmed that the five buildings of our UN compound, hosting UNDP, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Habitat and the UN Medical Dispensary have been totally looted. All vehicles left in the garage - all ICT equipment - furniture and files have been ransacked.

All UNDP staff members in the Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah area are reporting to work as planned and have managed to continue working under the current circumstances.

The General Electricity Situation:

There have been no major changes in the electricity supply to Erbil and Sulaimaniyah, and it is sufficient to cover basic humanitarian requirements.

In Dahuk:

Power from Mosul has still not been restored.

Water supply and hospital services are still dependent on the 29 MW plant and some Small Diesel Generator (SDG) sets which only provide about nine hours of electricity a day.

58 generators were put back into service, benefiting 19,000 families.

UNDP-ENRP (Electricity Network Rehabilitation Programme) colleagues are finalizing the assembly of a line between East Dahuk and West Dahuk substations to facilitate the transfer of power between the two substations.

The Power Line Carrier (PLC) between East Dahuk and Zakho substations went down due to backup battery problems. Local electricity staff and UNDP-ENRP national engineers restored the system and reprogrammed the equipment.

Chris Lom, Spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
KUWAIT - IOM Director General Brunson McKinley will arrive in Kuwait tomorrow for a three-day visit to Kuwait and southern Iraq. During the visit he will meet with Kuwaiti officials and representatives of US government agencies to discuss relief and reconstruction in Iraq. Kuwait last week announced a US$1 million contribution to IOM's Iraq programme.

IRAQ - IOM Iran yesterday took part in an inter-agency assessment mission to the Iraqi town of Badrah, 16 kilometres from the Iranian border, following reports of large numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the area.

The mission discovered that there were in fact only between 2,500 and 3,000 IDPs in the town of 6,000. Residents told IOM the majority of the IDPs had already returned to Baghdad to secure their homes and property after the fighting.

Townspeople reported that the town had been largely untouched by the war, although electric power had been cut off. Two coalition tanks reportedly entered the town last week, but Iraqi soldiers had already fled their positions. The coalition forces blew up ammunition found in the town and left.

The assessment team established that the town has food supplies that will last until the end of May. The Iranian authorities have agreed to continue to continue to deliver aid to the town until electric power supplies are restored.

IOM's relief programme for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq was set up at the request of the UN under the overall responsibility of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. It includes coordinating the efforts of agencies operating in the 15 south and central governorates of Iraq to register IDPs, manage IDP camps, distribute non-food items, and eventually help people to return to their homes.

JORDAN - A steady stream of third country nationals (TCNs) fleeing Iraq continue to arrive at the Karama border crossing with Iraq. Over the past two days 108 people, including 40 Yemenis, 15 Egyptians and 12 Somalis have arrived in Jordan.

When the Yemenis arrived on Sunday, IOM officials at the border contacted the Yemeni embassy, which will assume responsibility for the group today and arrange their return home.

There is no indication that the number of arrivals is likely to decrease in the coming days. A Somali who arrived at the border yesterday told IOM that he had been told to leave the country by armed Iraqis, who threatened him on the grounds that he had come to Iraq during Saddam's regime and was no longer welcome.

The arrivals and departures of the past two days bring the total number of TCNs arriving in Jordan since the beginning of the war to 917. Of these, 684 have returned to their countries with assistance from IOM.

As of this morning, there are 233 people in the Ruweished transit camp, which is run by the Jordanian Red Crescent, with support from IOM, the IFRC, and NGOs.

SYRIA - Small numbers of third country nationals continued to leave Iraq for Syria this weekend, with 54 arrivals from Friday through Sunday. A group of 36 Sudanese flew home from Damascus to Khartoum with IOM this past weekend.

Arrivals in Syria may cease this week with the announcement by the Syrian authorities that their border with Iraq is now closed.

Yesterday IOM moved 78 refugees and 42 TCNs from the Syrian Red Crescent's El Heri transit camp at the Abu Kamal border to the El Hol refugee camp. A family of five Sudanese, including a newborn, will leave El Heri to fly home from Damascus with IOM, as soon as the mother is fit to travel.

Tomorrow a further 41 Sudanese will leave the Al Tanf border transit camp to travel to Damascus with IOM. They are scheduled to fly home tomorrow night.

The departures bring the total number of TCNs assisted to return home by IOM from Syria since the beginning of the war to 292. The majority have been Sudanese, Egyptian and Moroccan.

Khaled Mansour, Spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP)


The UN world Food Programme is scaling up the loading of trucks and lining up convoys in Iran, Jordan and Turkey. We are hoping to bring enough food into Iraq to continue the ongoing food distributions in the north and restart distribution in the South and Center before the end of the month.

In Turkey, a major escalation of food aid deliveries into northern Iraq is taking place. Yesterday alone we loaded 146 trucks (3,167 MT) with wheat flour and red lentils to send them to Erbil and Sulamaniyah. Today, food aid cargo will include sugar.

In Jordan and Iran, we continue to make preparations for food convoys. Fifty trucks have been loaded in Jordan over the past two days. We are hoping that they can cross the border before the end of the week.

Some government warehouses in Mosul and Kirkuk seem to have been looted. Our staff members are working on preparing them to receive supplies and to ensure their security before we send the convoys.

Veronique Taveau, Spokeswoman for the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq (OHCI)
We will be expanding that presence as the situation of law and order on the ground allows us to return without incurring undue risks for our colleagues who have to undertake the humanitarian response.

In a broad outline the present needs in Iraq fall into two categories; specific needs that differ from area to area; those specific needs in the center south, are fundamentally related with water, sanitation, medical services & medical supplies.

Our return to Iraq is very much constrained by the situation of lack of law and order on the ground. We have been, over the last few days, appealing to the coalition forces to fulfill the obligations that flow from the Geneva Conventions. I take note from reports that indeed the coalition forces have now expressed a new undertaking to control that situation, including the dispatch of police advisors and experts to help the armed forces on the ground to undertake those police actions that are required in order to have some level of normalcy brought back, particularly to the urban centers, where a large percentage of the Iraqi population is congregated. I hope we will be able to see on the ground the swift results of this commitment to allow, as the humanitarian agencies, to carry out our responsibilities.

We are concerned at two levels; in the short term, because of the delays in the ability to provide the basic social services the population needs & are entitled to. In a more medium term perspective we are concerned that this is passing the wrong message to the Iraqis in the days immediately after the collapse of the Baathist regime & the wrong signal in terms of what is the future is in Iraq, what freedom and democracy entails, what are the responsibilities that come with freedom & democracy. We are extremely concerned at the present state of lack of law & order in urban centers, that it might spill over to the urban areas & then move from the situation of looting to a situation of score settling, which will have extreme damaging consequences for the Iraqi society.

Jordan is a strategic platform for the humanitarian community to respond to the humanitarian consequences of the Iraqi crisis. It is not for no reason that the NGOs have chosen Amman for their hub; there are some 70 international NGOs in Jordan, waiting to cross the border & establish their programmes. Jordan also plays a key role for the transit corridor for humanitarian supplies, from both the Oil for Food programmes & supplies and resources through the Flash Appeal, to be delivered inside Iraq. Jordan has a vibrant transporting industry, it is known for the high quality of the servicing industry & it is a perfect platform for the humanitarian organizations. Unfortunately is located to the western part of Iraq, which is the less densely populated area of Iraq. So the potential beneficiaries are further away, but there is such a vibrant transport & service industry that this compensates for that apparent disadvantage.

Questions and Answers

Q: Just wondering where the food & aid in general will be going, since the headquarters were looted & there is no government counterpart to work with, once they are at the receiving end, who will handle them, how will they be stored & how will they be distributed?

A: K. Mansour: Not all the warehouses have been looted & we have about 10 staff members in every province from the 18 provinces in Iraq, who have been specifically trained to handle the public distribution system. We have also been with many international NGO's & our local staff has talked to the counter parts in Iraq to organize the distribution. We are going to use the public distribution system, used before the war, which has 44,000 points of distribution in the country. For example, from three warehouses in Basra, two have been broken into & the gates disappeared & we are trying to fix the gates & protected by the military. We are also checking other warehouses in Baghdad, yesterday & today. Yes, it is a patchy picture but we have people in the ground & counterparts.

Q: Not recorded

A: P. Kessler: Yes it was a 114 Iranians, as you will see in my note outside they came from the Al Pash Camp, they fled because of the looting & security. It is unclear if we will see more of these people from AL Pash showing at the borders. We certainly hope that the coalition forces do everything possible to ensure security in that area, so no more refugees will have to flee. To my knowledge there are no casualties, wounded or sick people. I will try to get more details later.

Q: There are unconfirmed reports that Iraqis with chronic medical conditions, such as, diabetes or requiring dialysis are showing up at refugee camps, either internally or at the border. Can you confirm this & give us any thoughts on the problems of Iraqis who have chronic conditions, what are your concerns & the possible toll?

A: P. Kessler: Until the looting began, Iraq barely had an equipped medical structure, my colleague from WHO can tell you more about that. I know of no large numbers of Iraqis who showed at the frontiers who need medical assistance; aside from one individual who came two weeks ago & that is the only case we are aware of & she is currently in hospital.

Q: I know that through the King's intervention a lot of the people who were stuck in No Man's Land were processed into Jordan. Do you think this is still a case by case situation, as it seems more people are trying to get in; was there not a reached agreement with the Jordanian government on processing this or does it require the King's intervention every time?

A: P. Kessler: We are grateful that these seven Iraqis & the poor Palestinians who have been stuck at the border for a week have been allowed through. I saw two little Iraqi girls there yesterday who have been stuck at the No Mans Land for a week, playing in the dust & mourning the death of their brother who has been killed early April, when a bomb struck their house & also took away their mothers life. I am sure these people will be very grateful for getting in the country, but it is still very important that all the countries bordering Iraq keep their frontiers open for people seeking asylum, people fleeing the insecurity from the war that is still going on in some parts of the country.

Q: Some of the reports say that the people in No Man's Land are Iranians members of the opposition Mujahedin; is that one of the reasons why there is a delay in the processing the map of that area?

A: P. Kessler: As I mentioned, there are several groups of people at the border. We asked that no one be returned to Iraq, there is a group of about 90 Iranians who began to arrive on Friday & we would like to interview these groups. But indeed the other population at the border, the residents of Iraq or Iraqis that have been at the frontier, should be allowed in to the country where they can seek safety. By that I mean the seven Iraqis & four Palestinians I spoke about earlier, as well as the sum of 114 people who fled Al Pash camp yesterday. Those people should be immediately allowed in. We hope that they can get the safety & protection they need.

Q: Petra News Agency: Under the absence of security & under this anarchy, you have to face this situation; no one will accept your apology when the security situation allows. Do you have any preparations for this situation?

A: V. Taveau: I don't know if I get your point, but as the Humanitarian Coordinator said last Saturday, we are absolutely ready to go back to Baghdad as soon as we can. As you also know, there is a group of international UN staff waiting for clearance to go to the north governorates & that team is absolutely ready. We are ready, waiting & as soon as we can we will go back. NGOs are starting to have convoys going & as Khaled mentioned, we have convoys of food waiting as well & as soon as we can get into Baghdad we will reach Baghdad. We are already in there as our local staff are in Iraq.

K. Masour: We are not sitting idle until the international staff can go back, for example, in Basra we made sure that one warehouse is secure & can receive food, we are making security arrangements for warehouses in Baghdad & our staff are now working on warehouses in Mosul & Kirkuk to receive the food as soon as it gets there. There are things that need to be done on the ground besides the improvement in the law & order situation, which has been improved in the last few days.

Q: Regarding your meeting with Queen Rania, are there any specific measures to be taken in receiving injured children in Jordan?

A: G. Keele: Most of the discussions we had were on longer term cooperation to benefit children inside Iraq, development issues, such as helping them with trauma & early childhood development. The issue of providing some transportation as well as medical care for children in need of specialist treatment, they cannot get in Iraq, is an issue that came up & the Queen felt very strongly about & is prepared to work very hard to find ways to evacuate children to Jordan to receive care they cannot receive in Iraq. Jordan is very well placed for this. It has excellent medical facilities. We had offers from numerous countries around the world, to receive children for medical care; the benefit from doing that here in Jordan, is that you have linguistic compatibility, cultural similarities, the children will not just be physically taken away & put in a foreign culture with a foreign language. We have an opportunity to provide a high standard of care & also a more comforting environment. Another thing the Queen said she would be interested in doing, is bringing some family members out as well, we will never take a child away from his family & out it into care in another country. This is obviously something she is concerned about & we are concerned about, there are numerous children who cannot get the level of care they need, so now it is a matter to see what we can do about it.