ABDULAY, Kuwait, 25 March 2003 — Almost no humanitarian aid has reached Iraq since the start of the war, and unanticipated military battles and logistical problems in the southern part of the country made it unclear when aid will arrive for people who in some cases are without water and electricity and have been pleading for help, aid officials said.
In a sign that the problem is serious, President Bush said Sunday that “massive amounts’’ of humanitarian aid were poised to move into Iraq in the next 36 hours. “That’s going to be positive news for those who suffered a long time under Saddam Hussein,’’ he told reporters as he returned to the White House from Camp David.
Most aid organizations say emergency supplies of water, food rations, medicine, shelter materials and hygiene kits are in place in countries bordering Iraq, but none can be brought in because fighting prevents aid teams from entering the country to assess the needs.
“I mean we’re ready to go, but we will not go into an unsafe combat environment. We’re not trained for that, and not equipped,’’ said Michael Marx, a disaster relief specialist with the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance.
“I don’t think anyone would think it’s a good idea to go in right now when it’s so extremely dangerous,’’ said Susan Romanski, an emergency program officer in Kuwait for the humanitarian aid organization Mercy Corps International.
Among the few aid organizations at work inside Iraq is the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has skeleton staffs in Baghdad, Basra and northern Iraq. They’ve been able to get medicine and surgical supplies to two Baghdad hospitals and to patch together a source of water for the residents of Basra, according to spokeswoman Tamara Al-Rifai. “Since Friday night, the water treatment plants in Basra have not been functioning because of power cuts,’’ she said. Now, 40 percent of the population does have water, she said, though the water they are drinking is treated river water from the Euphrates.
Marx heads a 62-member rapid response team that has so far spent $50 million on food and commodities but has yet to get its members inside Iraq. Some team members had hoped to make a first foray early this week into the port city of Umm Qasr, but as of Sunday night, there were still gun battles and exploding bombs in the town. In the port, mine sweepers crisscrossed the water while a relief ship idled well offshore.
The continued fighting has meant a delay that filters down to all of the independent humanitarian organizations.
“Most NGOs (non-government organizations) are very busy writing proposals because we think, or at least hope, that money is going to be available soon,’’ Romanski said, listing several government organizations in the United States and Europe that have indicated they are ready to sign contracts with NGOs to deliver water and food inside Iraq. “Having said that, no checks have come in, but I’m optimistic the money will come at some point.’’
Zaki Khoury, of the International Rescue Committee, was less optimistic. “It’s frustrating,’’ he said. “It’s not clear when we will get in the country.’’
Among the frustrations, he said, is a debate over identification badges between NGOs and the Humanitarian Operations Center, which is managed by the US military in conjunction with the Kuwaiti government. The NGOs want to carry their own identification cards, Khoury said, but the HOC proposed to issue them, which would “taint our neutrality and put us in dangerous situations once we’re identified by a US military badge.’’
Aid from UN agencies such as the World Food Program and UNICEF depends on Iraq being declared secure enough for their international staff — pulled out just before fighting began — to return and do their own assessments of need.