IRAQ: Aid donors have expressed concern at the worsening security situation in Iraq and warned that continuing violence could delay the country's economic and political reconstruction, writes Denis Staunton Brussels
But the Core Group of donors, who met in Brussels yesterday, insisted that a donors' conference will go ahead in Madrid next month despite the difficulties.
Representatives from the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United States, the European Union, Japan, the Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq's Governing Council attended the meeting. They declined to discuss details of their talks but said they would report to a UN Development Group meeting in New York tomorrow.
"All participants confirmed their commitment to supporting reconstruction in Iraq and to a successful transition to a democratically elected Iraqi government. They agreed that an adequate security environment will be necessary for the achievement of these goals," they said in a statement.
The World Bank and the European Commission have identified 14 sectors for reconstruction in Iraq, including health, education, power, water supply, sanitation, water management, agriculture and private sector development. The international community is also considering how it might assist in building new political institutions in Iraq.
The External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday that, despite their differences over the legitimacy of the US-led invasion of Iraq, all European countries shared an interest in the country's reconstruction.
"The question before us is not whether we should be involved in the reconstruction of Iraq, but how we should be involved and what is required for it to be a success. It requires security, as we know from previous examples of nation-building. In passing, I would add that we have not come close to cracking the problem in Afghanistan, another country where regime change has proved rather more straightforward than building a pluralist nation," he said.
Mr Patten said the successful reconstruction of Iraq would require a major political and financial commitment and an acknowledgement that non-military aspects of nation building were at least as important as military ones. He said that, to persuade international donors to make that commitment, the UN must be given a central role in Iraq's reconstruction.
"We are prepared to help, if and when security conditions allow, provided that there is an adequate multilateral umbrella for our contribution, one that is separate from but co-ordinated with the work of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
"This is a message which I have personally made clear in meetings over the summer with US Secretary of State Powell and Under-Secretary Larson. I have been wholly consistent on this point, and I do not believe it has been either inappropriately controversial or unreasonable to be so. Let me give one example of political reality. I do not believe this parliament would support any other approach. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my political judgement is way off the mark. But I don't actually think so," he said.