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| Workers load wheat flour from a World Food Programme warehouse in Erbil, northern Iraq, for distribution in monthly rations provided under the Oil-for-Food Programme. Photo/OFFP Sonia Dumont | Weekly meetings of United Nations and Iraqi experts with advisors of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), held since the adoption of Security Council resolution 1483 (2003) on 22 May, have as of 29 July produced a list of 1,612 contracts valued at almost $2.5 billion, prioritized for early delivery under the Oil-for-Food Programme. The items are considered by all parties to have "relative utility" based on preliminary assessments of Iraq's needs. UN agencies and programmes are working directly with the suppliers concerned to amend the contracts and expedite shipments.
Recently added to this prioritized list were 116 contracts valued at almost $358 million for the agriculture sector—items of which include machinery, vehicles, irrigation equipment, pesticides, animal feed and veterinary supplies—and ten contracts worth $23.6 million for the education sector, which include school buses, printing paper and ink.
Multi-million-dollar contracts for heavy equipment and spare parts for Iraq's oil and electricity sectors have also been prioritized for immediate delivery, according to the UN Office of the Iraq Programme, responsible for administering the Oil-for-Food Programme. Other contracts include items for the oil sector ($1.038 billion), electricity ($794 million), water and sanitation ($54 million), youth and sports ($19.4 million) and labour and social affairs ($11 million).
Under the Oil-for-Food Programme, set up on 14 April 1995 by the Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, Iraq is allowed to use oil sales to buy the food and humanitarian supplies on which 60 per cent of Iraqis have depended as their sole source of sustenance. It also provided Iraq with the opportunity to sell oil to finance the purchase of humanitarian goods and various mandated UN activities concerning Iraq. The Programme was intended to be a "temporary measure to provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people", until the fulfilment by Iraq of the relevant Council resolutions, including notably resolution 687 (1991) of 3 April 1991.
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Rations in the monthly food basket available nationwide through the Oil-for Food Programme are displayed in Baghdad. The ration includes 200 grams of tea, 250 grams of chick peas, 125 grams of beans, 125 grams of lentils, 1 kilogram of cooking oil, 2 kilograms of sugar, 3 kilograms of rice, 8 kilograms of flour, 125 grams of powdered milk (for adults), 100 grams of iodized salt, 8 tins (6 kilograms) of Dielac (baby formula) and 800 grams of Ridelac (supplementary baby food). Also included are: 2 bars of soap and 500 grams of powdered detergent. Every resident in Iraq receives the monthly ‘food basket’ (rations) under the Oil-for-Food Programme. Photo/ UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani
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In resolution 1483, the Council provided for the termination of the Programme within six months, transferring responsibility for the administration of any remaining activities to "the Authority" representing the occupying Powers. In its phase down prior to closure on 21 November 2003, the Office of the Iraq Programme, in coordination with the CPA and UN agencies, will continue to identify and ship approved and funded priority items. The resolution, which lifted civilian sanctions on Iraq, also expanded the menu of deliverable items, from food, medicines, water and sanitation supplies to goods and supplies deemed by all parties to have "relative utility" based on post-war assessments of immediate and longer term reconstruction needs.
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