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1 April 2003
Weekly Update
– 1 April 2003
Oil-for-Food
Programme Asks Global Suppliers to
Speed
Humanitarian Deliveries for Iraq
An initial assessment of contracts in the United Nations
humanitarian pipeline for Iraq has identified over $1 billion worth
of goods and supplies as potential priorities for delivery over a 45
day period to 12 May.
The adoption of Security Council Resolution 1472 (2003) on 28
March, gave authority to the Secretary-General for 45 days to
facilitate the delivery and receipt of goods contracted by the
Government of Iraq through the Oil-for-Food Programme which has
$10.1 billion worth of goods and supplies in its pipeline. These
include food items worth $2.4 billion, water supply and sanitation
equipment ($506 million) and health supplies ($374 million). There
are $5.8 billion in processed contracts that are unfunded. The
Programme has $2.9 billion in uncommitted funds in escrow.
The Council has indicated that some of the escrow could be used
to cover additional costs involved in renegotiating supply contracts
and redirecting shipments to the most useful locations. The
announcement of temporary new delivery locations is expected as soon
as agencies have completed their assessments of the priority needs
of civilians inside and outside the country.
The initial assessment by the Office of the Iraq Programme and UN
agencies and organizations has identified more than 450 contracts
across the spectrum of medicines, health supplies, foodstuffs, water
and sanitation and other materials identified by the Security
Council as priorities for shipment. The contracts are held by
suppliers from some 40 countries representing almost every region of
the world.
The ongoing review of contracts in the Oil-for-Food pipeline
includes humanitarian items within two main categories:
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priority goods already in transit by land and
sea; and
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priority items already approved but not yet
shipped, that stand the greatest chance of being accelerated in the
pipeline to reach their destination within the 45-day window
provided by the resolution.
The programme has asked individual UN agencies to ‘adopt’ the
most urgently needed supplies already in transit, according to their
needs, and go directly to suppliers to re-negotiate the most
favourable terms for rapid delivery.
A review of the approved but unshipped contracts will then
follow, with agencies again asking the suppliers to urgently
identify the status of these orders and modalities for rapid
delivery to Iraq.
Agencies actively involved in the review of the pipeline are: FAO,
UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO, WFP.
Oil exports
Meanwhile, there have been no oil exports under the
Programme since March 20. Revenues generated from oil sales from the
beginning of phase XIII of the Programme (5 December 2002 - 3 June
2003) are estimated at about $4.5 Billion at current prices and rate
of exchange.
Oil-for-Food Programme
The Oil-for-Food programme was
established by the Security Council on 14
April 1995. Some 3.4 billion
barrels of Iraqi oil valued at about $64 billion have been exported
under the programme since December 1996. Of this amount, 72 per cent
of the total has been allocated towards humanitarian needs
nationwide since December 2000. The balance goes to: Gulf War
reparations through a Compensation Fund (25 per cent since December
2000); UN administrative and operational costs for the programme
(2.2 per cent) and costs for the weapons inspection programme (0.8
per cent).
Since
December 1996 more than $45 billion worth of humanitarian supplies,
including $3.8 billion worth of oil spare parts, have been approved
by the 661 Sanctions Committee and the Office of the Iraq Programme.
Of this amount, almost $27 billion worth of humanitarian supplies
and equipment have been delivered to Iraq under the Oil-for-Food
Programme, including $1.6 billion worth of oil industry spare parts
and equipment.
Additional information is available from the website
of the Office of the Iraq Programme. For further information
please contact Ian Steele email: steelei@un.org
steelei@un.org
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