|
US food rolling into Baghdad
04/07/2003 19:16 - (SA)
Geneva - The UN has been delivering 1 000 tons of food to Iraq every hour over the past month in an unprecedented aid operation, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
About 760 000 ton of food reached the country during June in the operation, which is meant to feed the entire Iraqi population until the end of October, the UN food agency said in a statement.
"A throughput of over 1 000 tons an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, sustained for a month is unheard of," said WFP deputy executive director for operations Jean-Jacques Graisse.
Under Saddam Hussein's regime, about six Iraqis in ten were dependent on food aid and WFP expects that more will need aid with the end of the US-led invasion.
"It is very likely that food aid is more important today in this post-conflict period, since many people have lost their jobs and have not received salaries, while at the same time they are seeing prices rise," Graisse said.
The deliveries through the southern port of Umm Qasr and road corridors from neighbouring Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and Iran have brought 1.2 million tons of food into Iraq since April.
WFP said the $1.5bn operation was fully-funded, with 30 donor countries having provided $535m so far and the rest financed by the UN's Oil-for Food programme.
- AFX
|
News
