Monday, July 30, 2007
Oxfam - eight million Iraqis require emergency aid
Humanitarian
(Al Jazeera) - Up to eight million Iraqis require immediate emergency aid, with nearly half of the population living in "absolute poverty", according to a report by Oxfam and a coalition of Iraqi groups. About four million people are lacking food and "in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance", said the report, released in Amman on Monday.
"Iraqis are suffering from a growing lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation, health care, education, and employment," said the report, compiled by Oxfam and the NGO Co-ordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI). The report also says two million people within the country are currently displced, while more than two million are refugees.Most of those refugees have fled to Jordan and Syria.
"Many of the figures and percentages in the report were actually derived from UN sources… so we concur with the findings" said Said Arikit, spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq. Said Arikit, a spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq, told Al Jazeera the report painted a "grim picture. Many of the figures and percentages in the report were actually derived from UN sources… so we concur with the findings," he said.
"Iraqis are suffering from a growing lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation, health care, education, and employment," said the report, compiled by Oxfam and the NGO Co-ordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI). The report also says two million people within the country are currently displced, while more than two million are refugees.Most of those refugees have fled to Jordan and Syria.
"Many of the figures and percentages in the report were actually derived from UN sources… so we concur with the findings" said Said Arikit, spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq. Said Arikit, a spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq, told Al Jazeera the report painted a "grim picture. Many of the figures and percentages in the report were actually derived from UN sources… so we concur with the findings," he said.
"The government of Iraq is definitely the authority in Iraq and it bears responsibility for the welfare of its people." Iraqi services have been left in crisis as most of those seeking refuge are professionals, according to the report. "The 'brain drain' that Iraq is experiencing is further stretching already inadequate public services, as thousands of medical staff, teachers, water engineers, and other professionals are forced to leave the country," it said.
The entry of Iraqi refugees to neighbouring countries has placed a growing strain on health, education and social services in the two countries. Only 60 per cent of the four million people who depend on food assistance have access to rations from the government-run public distribution system, down from 96 per cent in 2004, the report said.
The number of Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies has risen from 50 per cent to 70 per cent since 2003. The lack of effective sanitation was also highlighted by the joint report, which said 80 per cent of people in Iraq did not have safe access. The report said children were the hardest hit by the fall in living standards, stating child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 per cent before the US-led invasion in 2003 to 28 percent currently.
"Despite the constraints imposed by the government of Iraq, the UN and the international donors can do more to deliver humanitarian assistance to reduce unnecessary suffering," the report said. One recommendation called for the government of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, to decentralise the distribution of aid to local authorities, and make it easier for civil society organisations to operate.
The entry of Iraqi refugees to neighbouring countries has placed a growing strain on health, education and social services in the two countries. Only 60 per cent of the four million people who depend on food assistance have access to rations from the government-run public distribution system, down from 96 per cent in 2004, the report said.
The number of Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies has risen from 50 per cent to 70 per cent since 2003. The lack of effective sanitation was also highlighted by the joint report, which said 80 per cent of people in Iraq did not have safe access. The report said children were the hardest hit by the fall in living standards, stating child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 per cent before the US-led invasion in 2003 to 28 percent currently.
"Despite the constraints imposed by the government of Iraq, the UN and the international donors can do more to deliver humanitarian assistance to reduce unnecessary suffering," the report said. One recommendation called for the government of Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, to decentralise the distribution of aid to local authorities, and make it easier for civil society organisations to operate.
Labels: aid, children, Co-ordination Committee in Iraq, humanitarian aid, IDPs, Iraqi refugees, Oxfam, poverty, Said Arikit
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Iraq needs $2.5 bn to rebuild power sector
Electricity
(Reuters) - Iraq must lure between $2 billion and $2.5 billion per year in international aid and investment if it is to rebuild its devastated power sector, the country's electricity minister said on Wednesday.The minister, Karim Hasan, was in London to enlist the help of energy companies including BP. Power cuts are a daily occurrence, especially in the capital Baghdad, as a result of nearly three decades of war damage, poor maintenance because of sanctions and due to sabotage. "We rebuild and they destroy every day," Hasan said, referring to the sabotage attacks.
He said he was seeking to protect the country's power plants with security forces, including around 7,000 "power police," but added: "I can't secure the power transmission.""Many people have died because of the lack of electricity. Most of the hospitals are not working because of a shortage of electricity," he told reporters. Oil refineries and oil production have also been affected by unreliable electricity supplies. Iraq's oil output is stuck at around two million barrels per day (bpd), compared with the nearly three million bpd just before the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.
To try to improve power generation, a 10-year plan was agreed in 2006, with the support of the international community, to add about 2,000 megawatts to current generating capacity of around 5,000 megawatts. Funding will come from $2 billion per year of government money, but the overall cost will be around $4 billion to $4.5 billion, leaving a gap of $2 billion to $2.5 billion, Hasan said. "We urge donors to fulfil the commitments they made at the Madrid conference (on reconstruction in Iraq)," Hasan said. "We also need to ask the power industries to contribute."
In Britain, he said he was holding meetings with all the big power generators and with BP about a gas project in the south of the country. "We also discussed with them a gas master plan," Hasan said. BP was not immediately available for comment. Iraq's vast energy reserves offer a big incentive for oil and gas companies considering investment in Iraq. But analysts said financial incentives for power firms willing to work in Iraq might not outweigh the dangers. "You could command a security premimum, but most people involved in electricity networks are reasonably risk averse people," said Sebastian Eyre of John Hall Associates. "The chances are there are other places you can go."
Labels: aid, BP, electricity, Iraq, Karim Hasan
Monday, March 19, 2007
Iraqi Red Crescent Society - humanitarian relief deliveries improve
Security, Humanitarian
(IRIN) - Baghdad's month-old new security plan is showing signs of progress as the capital's death toll has dropped by 30 percent and execution-style slayings have halved, say specialists. As such, access for humanitarian relief deliveries has improved, say aid workers. However, car bombs and suicide attacks are still commonplace.
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), the country's only aid agency operating throughout the country, said that its teams are working like "bees" through its 40 offices in Baghdad. "We are still able to reach anyone who needs our help and our movement has not been hampered… It's better than before," Mazin Abdullah Saloom, a Red Crescent spokesman said. "We still have access to displaced families in Baghdad and its suburbs while medicine and essential items are still being brought into hospitals," Saloom added.
For the first time in many months, downtown shoppers have returned to Baghdad's outdoor markets as the rattle of gunfire and the blasts of bombs can be heard much less frequently. On 14 March, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the US-Iraqi security plan, said the number of civilians killed in the capital since the operation started a month before had plunged to 265, compared with 1,440 people killed during the previous month.
Moussawi also said 94 militants had been killed while 713 militants and 1,152 other suspects had been arrested since 14 February. In the same period, 24 kidnap victims had been released and more than 2,000 displaced families had returned to their homes.
However, despite the improvement in security, Baghdad residents said that Shia militias and Sunni insurgents were still around, lying low or hiding outside the city until the new security operation is over. The absence of Sunni insurgents and the radical Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr and his fearful militiamen is considered one of the reasons behind the reduced violence in the capital.
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), the country's only aid agency operating throughout the country, said that its teams are working like "bees" through its 40 offices in Baghdad. "We are still able to reach anyone who needs our help and our movement has not been hampered… It's better than before," Mazin Abdullah Saloom, a Red Crescent spokesman said. "We still have access to displaced families in Baghdad and its suburbs while medicine and essential items are still being brought into hospitals," Saloom added.
For the first time in many months, downtown shoppers have returned to Baghdad's outdoor markets as the rattle of gunfire and the blasts of bombs can be heard much less frequently. On 14 March, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the US-Iraqi security plan, said the number of civilians killed in the capital since the operation started a month before had plunged to 265, compared with 1,440 people killed during the previous month.
Moussawi also said 94 militants had been killed while 713 militants and 1,152 other suspects had been arrested since 14 February. In the same period, 24 kidnap victims had been released and more than 2,000 displaced families had returned to their homes.
However, despite the improvement in security, Baghdad residents said that Shia militias and Sunni insurgents were still around, lying low or hiding outside the city until the new security operation is over. The absence of Sunni insurgents and the radical Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr and his fearful militiamen is considered one of the reasons behind the reduced violence in the capital.
"But this doesn't mean they are gone forever; they are just adopting a new tactic by bowing to the storm to reorganise themselves more to resurface later," said Baghdad-based analyst Mohammed Abbas al-Hamad. "Key leaders [of Shia militiamen and Sunni insurgents] have left the country or the capital while others are still around but have frozen their activities for the time being," al-Hamad added.
Labels: aid, Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, insurgents, Iraqi Red Crescent Society, IRCS, militias
