US and UK forces are laying a pipeline from Kuwait to Basra and hope to pump water to the city where 100,000 children are at risk due to problems with the local supply, writes Michael Jansen in Amman.
With each day of hostilities the situation of Iraqi civilians grows more precarious. The main focus of international attention is on the southern city of Basra, with 1.7 million people, whose health has been seriously impaired by 12 years of sanctions and by remnants of radioactive ordnance left in the area after the 1991 conflict.
Yesterday, Ms Veronique Taveau, spokeswoman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Co-ordination In Iraq, said the quantity of water being supplied to Basra is insufficient and the "quality is very poor" due to the disruption of electricity supplies by 60 per cent over the past four days.
She said 100,000 children were at risk of life threatening diseases. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which managed to make temporary repairs to the main power plant, is continuing its efforts.
According to the British government's briefing officer, Mr Charles Heath, British military liaison officers based in Kuwait are assisting the ICRC's efforts. He also said US and UK forces are laying a pipeline from Kuwait to Basra and hope to pump water to the city within 10 days. Naval mine clearance at Umm Qasr is proceeding so that food aid and temporary shelter can be delivered to those most in need.
On the situation in the north, Ms Taveau reported that a camp for 7,000 internally displaced people has been set up near the Turkish border but, so far, had no inhabitants. She said 20,000 Kurds are close to the border with Iran, 1,000 in tents, the rest sheltering with families and in public buildings, but none had crossed the border.
An estimated 500,000 people in the three Kurdish majority northern provinces have left their homes over the past two weeks. If Turkish troops move across the border, analysts expect a massive outflow into Iran and Syria.
Mr Khaled Mansour of the World Food Programme said the distribution of food supplies was going ahead but on a seriously curtailed basis. He said the 3.5 million people in this area depend on these rations.
UNICEF director Ms Carol Bellamy expressed concern about the situation in a formal statement. "UNICEF is deeply troubled by the deteriorating conditions for children in the areas most impacted by military operations . . . We're very concerned about reports of deaths and injuries among children and women.
"Such losses are tragic, and they are unacceptable. But the truth is the world does not have a very clear idea of the humanitarian impact of the fighting. There is a disturbing lack of focus on the civilian population."