UN aid agencies have expressed alarm at the lack of food, medicine and clean water in Iraq, estimating that 4,500 children are dying monthly, partly because of stringent trade sanctions.
Of the $39.9 million requested in a September appeal only 4 per cent or $1.6 million was received, from the Netherlands and from France, according to Mr Yasushi Akashi, the UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
Ms Carol Bellamy, the director of UNICEF, told a news conference that 4,500 children under five years of age were dying each month from hunger and disease, and some "modest financing" at minimum was needed.
Ms Ballamy called on the international community to understand the "implications" of the situation.
UNICEF officials later said that this figure was given by the Iraqi government but nevertheless was an indication of the crisis. Other humanitarian groups said 4,500 appeared valid.
The UN has estimated that the combined effects of more than six years of economic sanctions, high inflation and a 30 per cent fall in agricultural production have placed 20 million Iraqis at even greater health risk than ever before.
Half of all Iraqi women are reported to be receiving only 50 per, cent of their nutritional needs while an entire generation of children are being deprived of the sustenance they need to grow into healthy adults.
Furthermore, 4,000-5,000 elderly and chronically ill Iraqi civilians die every month due to the lack of food and medicines which the government cannot afford to purchase due to the strict sanctions regime.
In Washington, however, the State Department spokesman Mr Nicholas Burns reacted cooly to the reports. He said the administration has long felt the Iraqi people had suffered because of President Saddam Hussein's rule.
The crisis has come to a head because the oil-for-food plan which would allow Baghdad to export 52 billion in oil every six months in order to purchase supplies has been delayed since May. At first, implementation was delayed because of US opposition to the plan, but since the beginning of September the plan has been postponed because of clan warfare in the Kurdish north.
There are three reasons why such instability could be disruptive. First, the pipeline through which the bulk of the oil is to be exported runs from Kirkuk through the Kurdish area to the Turkish border. Second, the UN, has been reluctant to deploy staff to monitor the pumping stations and export outlets And, finally, Washington has said the deal would not go through until its was certain food and medical supplies would reach the needy, including Kurds in the war zone, from which UN and international relief staff have been withdrawn.
With winter approaching, UN relief workers and international agencies believe there is no time to lose if Iraqis most at risk are to survive. According to an informed source at the Cyprus-based oil journal Middle East Economic Survey, the Turkish pipeline has been cleaned and made ready for export and pumping stations in Iraq have been repaired. It also reported recently that a base price for Iraqi oil had been agreed by Baghdad and the UN.
Jordanian and Turkish merchants meanwhile have been pressing for the oil-for-food deal to go through so they can resume trade with Baghdad and the Kurds
The hardship of the Iraqi people could be reduced if at least partial oil exports could begin as soon as possible through Iraq's Mina-al-Bakr oil terminal at the mouth of the Gulf - which was specified as the second route for exports in the May 20th Memorandum of Understanding between Baghdad and the UN - rather than postponing the deal until oil can flow through the precarious pipeline across Kurdish territory.
