Amman — The International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned the arrival of the first aid shipments into southern Iraq — and a possible future route for Canadian aid — as a propaganda exercise.
Three trucks of aid arrived in the southern Iraqi town of Safwan yesterday afternoon, which led to chaos as hungry crowds mobbed the trucks chanting "Food! Food!" while unidentified workers tossed relief packages into the crowd. The whole episode unfolded in front of rolling television cameras, while armed American soldiers stood watch.
Mui'n Kassis, the head of communications for the ICRC in Jordan, said he was appalled as he watched the scene on television. "That was disgusting; that was propaganda," he said, shaking his head angrily.
He said he didn't know who co-ordinated the aid shipment, which came overland via Kuwait, although news reports said it was the Kuwait Red Crescent Society, an affiliate of the ICRC. Mr. Kassis said whoever organized it seemed more interested in appearances than in those they were supposed to be helping.
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"We have to think about the dignity of the recipients in these situations," he said.
The politics of delivering aid to needy Iraqis is highly charged. The United States and Britain have been anxious to get humanitarian aid into Iraq as soon as possible, in order to bolster their argument that they are waging war primarily for the benefit of the Iraqi people.
The Canadian government yesterday pledged $100-million in emergency aid for Iraqi civilians, but said it hoped the food, water and medicine would be delivered by neutral international organizations rather than by the U.S.-led military coalition.
The Canadian contribution will be channelled through United Nations agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, CARE Canada and other humanitarian groups, Susan Whelan, the Minister for International Co-operation, said.
The first $20-million is available immediately, she said, and the rest of the aid money will follow later this year.
But the aid dilemma grew more complicated yesterday when United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan made it clear he thinks the United States and Britain are legally responsible for delivering assistance to those affected by the war.
"The primary responsibility for meeting these needs falls on the belligerents who control the territory," Mr. Annan told a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Coalition war planners had vowed to deliver humanitarian supplies to people of southern Iraq by the end of the week. Aid has thus far been slow to arrive because of unexpectedly stiff resistance from Iraqi units in the south, especially around the southern centre of Basra, where fighting continues unabated and water supplies have been disrupted.
The aid convoy that arrived in Safwan yesterday was one of two to make its way into Iraq yesterday. The packages that were thrown to the crowd reportedly contained water, flour, oil, tea and bread.
Another shipment of seven truckloads arrived at the Persian Gulf port of Umm Qasr — until recently, the scene of fierce Iraqi resistance — escorted again by American soldiers.
"We planned for 30 trucks, but we only got seven loaded because of the severe sandstorm," said E.J. Russell of the Humanitarian Operations Center, a joint U.S.-Kuwaiti agency. Most of the country has been enveloped in a blinding sandstorm for several days.
The World Food Programme estimates that Iraq, already hit hard by 12 years of crippling economic sanctions, has only five weeks of food left. Sixty per cent of the country's 22 million people rely entirely on food handouts, the agency said.
The WFP plans to make what would be the biggest single request for cash help in its history, more than $1-billion (U.S.), to help feed the war-stricken nation for about six months.
"This could well turn into the largest humanitarian operation in history," spokesman Trevor Rowe said.
With a report from Jeff Sallot in Ottawa
