UNITED NATIONS, March 26: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told United States national security adviser Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday that the US was legally responsible for providing humanitarian aid to Iraqis “gravely affected by the war” in areas controlled by coalition forces.
Ms Rice came to the UN to meet its chief to discuss the situation in Iraq, including the humanitarian conditions and the requirements for providing assistance to the Iraqi people.
“The secretary-general repeated his public call on all parties involved in the war to meet their obligations towards civilians under international humanitarian law,” a spokesman said in a statement released after the meeting.
Mr Annan told Ms Rice that “the United Nations would have limited capacity to do anything until security conditions allowed for the safe return of (its) staff to affected areas,” the statement said.
“Until then, humanitarian assistance would have to be provided by the United States and its coalition partners in those areas under their control, consistent with their overall responsibility under international law.”
Ms Rice described the United States’ present thinking regarding the post-war period, while Mr Annan said any UN role beyond the provision of humanitarian assistance would have to be decided by the member states through a Security Council resolution.
In the meeting, the secretary-general “emphasized the need to maintain the territorial integrity of Iraq and the right of its people to determine their political future and exercise control over their natural resources,” according to UN spokesman Fred Eckhard.
President Bush promised on Sunday that “massive amounts of humanitarian aid should begin moving within the next 36 hours.” No aid has materialized, and Mr Annan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and international aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis.
Russia and other Security Council members emphasize that under the Geneva conventions, occupying forces are responsible for providing humanitarian goods to sustain the population.
The US and British decision to attack Iraq despite failing to get UN backing for war left the council deeply divided. Russia, France, Germany and China — which believed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could have been disarmed peacefully through UN inspections — want to ensure that the immediate humanitarian costs of the war are paid by the US and not the UN.
But the UN will still be a major humanitarian player in post-war Iraq.
Before the war, the UN oil-for-food programme provided food, medicine and humanitarian aid to 60 per cent of Iraq’s 22 million people — over 13 million people.
The programme allows the country to sell unlimited quantities of oil provided the money goes mainly to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods. The proceeds from oil sales are deposited in a UN-controlled escrow account.
Mr Annan wants to revive the programme as quickly as possible, but a resolution to allow the secretary-general to run the programme for 45 days is stalled. Russia, Syria and others insist it must not sanction the war or give the US control over the escrow account, which contains billions of dollars, to pay for humanitarian relief.
Ms Rice talked to Mr Annan about adjustments to the oil-for-food programme sought by the Bush administration, the US scenario for post-war Iraq, and Washington’s desire to return sovereignty to the Iraqi people as soon as possible, said a US mission spokesman.
Mr Annan said any UN role in post-war Iraq beyond the provision of humanitarian assistance must be approved by the Security Council.
