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CNN Live At Daybreak

Oil For Food Program In Iraq Needs Help To Keep Aid Coming

Aired February 11, 2002 - 05:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The head of the U.N. Oil For Food program in Iraq says major adjustments must be made to keep humanitarian relief flowing.

CNN's Rym Brahimi reports on why the program's not working.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The oil is there, but it's no longer bringing in the hundreds of millions of dollars needed for the United Nations humanitarian program to function. At stake, the lives of millions of Iraqis who depend on the food and medicine their government is allowed to buy with oil revenues.

Wrapping up a month long visit to Iraq, a U.N. official says the Oil For Food program needs immediate attention.

BENON SEVAN, OFFICE OF THE IRAQI PROGRAM: This is a matter which the community should address very urgently because the only source of revenue for the program is oil exports.

BRAHIMI: The place Benon Sevan will address this matter is New York and it's pretty much in the hands of the 15 members of the U.N. Sanctions Committee. In recent months, the Committee has set a new condition on oil contracts. It has determined the price of Iraqi oil will be set retroactively, after the sale. This, the Committee says, plus a loophole in practices it alleges allowed the Iraqi leadership to get a small percentage in hard cash.

But with buyers not knowing what price they get until after the sale, more and more purchasers are balking, postponing or canceling their contracts altogether. And in the past 60 days, the U.N. says Iraqi oil has been exported at the rate of only 1.5 million barrels a day, down from its normal average of 2.2 million barrels a day.

U.N. humanitarian officials say this is essentially blocking money the Iraqi government needs for vital food rations that have kept millions alive since the 1991 Gulf War. Sevan says the continuation of the program itself is under threat.

SEVAN: In fact, what one can think of is that for the next phase, in case there's one, for the twelfth phase, there's no need for a distribution plan because we won't have the money to cover it. BRAHIMI: Another issue the U.N. intends to raise with the Committee is the increased number of contract it has put on hold, mostly at the request of the U.S. or Britain, who say some items could be used for non-civilian purposes. The U.N. says that it's preventing work on vital sanitary infrastructure, another major setback for the humanitarian program, the U.N. saying that lack of clean water is the main reason children are still dying at abnormal rates in Iraq.

(on camera): The U.N. says despite these major setbacks, as long as the sanctions are in place the program must continue and it says the political debate over Iraq should be kept out of all things humanitarian.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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