THAILAND: 24,000 TONNES OF RICE LOADED ONTO SHIP TO AID PEOPLE OF IRAQ AS PART OF WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

Record ID: 647969

  • Title: THAILAND: 24,000 TONNES OF RICE LOADED ONTO SHIP TO AID PEOPLE OF IRAQ AS PART OF WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME
  • Date: 20th April 2003
  • Summary: (W3) BANGKOK, THAILAND (APRIL 21, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF TUG APPROACHING THE "THOR NAVIGATOR" 0.05 2. CLOSE OF SACKS OF RICE BEING LOWERED INTO HOLD 0.12 3. CLOSE OF SACKS OF RICE MARKED "GIFT OF USA, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME" 0.17 4. WIDE OF HOLD BEING FILLED WITH SACKS OF RICE 0.22 5. VARIOUS OF WORKERS INSIDE HOLD LIFTING SACKS 0.27 6. VARIOUS OF CRANE LIFTING RICE ON TO SHIP (2 SHOTS) 0.409 7. VARIOUS OF WORKERS SHIFTING RICE IN HOLD OF SHIP (4 SHOTS) 1.03 (W3) BANGKOK, THAILAND (APRIL 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 8. SKMV KENRO OSHIDARI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME REGIONAL BUREAU FOR ASIA SHOWING ROUTE OF SHIP ON WORLD MAP 1.06 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) KENRO OSHIDARI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF WFP REGIONAL BUREAU FOR ASIA SAYING "Well at the moment, as I said, the amount we are taking in is quite limited. However during the post-conflict period, when the humanitarian aid can more freely, go in, we expect the WFP may have to take in 480,000 tonnes of food per month and from Asia right now we have procured about ninety thousand tonnes of food." 1.34 10. CLOSE OF POSTER OF AID BEING DROPPED BY HELICOPTER 1.40 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) KENRO OSHIDARI SAYING "Right now our assistance would be rather limited to people who have escaped Iraq, refugees or certain groups of internally displaced people inside Iraq. But eventually, when the humanitarian aid can flow more freely, then we may have to feed up to 27 million people which is the entire population of Iraq." 2.09 (W3) BANGKOK, THAILAND (APRIL 21, 2003) (REUTERS) 12. WIDE OF HOLD BEING FILLED WITH RICE 2.13 16. SMV WORKERS ARRANGING SACKS 2.21 14. SLV CAPTAIN SURASAK SATIANSUWAN, MASTER OF THOR NAVIGATOR, ON BRIDGE OF SHIP 2.25 15. SMV CREW MEMBER CHECKING HOLD 2.31 16. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAPTAIN SURASAK SAYING "This voyage, we think we will cover it in about fifteen days, the voyage from here to Iraq. But we don't actually know what the destination is. But for the problem of traffic I think nothing because right now the war is already finished." 2.50 17. VARIOUS OF RICE BEING LOADED 3.00 18. WIDE OF HOLD OF SHIP 3.04 19. WIDE/ PAN OF SHIP IN RIVER 3.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 5th May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Reuters ID: LVACX6J40SMWQPXE89NJPYVMY4PH
  • Story Text: Twenty-four thousand tonnes of rice have been loaded
    on to a ship in Thailand, bound for Iraq.

    The World Food Programme (WFP) has bought 84,000 tonnes of
    rice from Asia in its single biggest purchase in the past ten
    years for a humanitarian operation.



    The purchase is part of the WFP's 1.3 billion U.S.

    dollars Iraq emergency operation which intends to re-establish
    the Public Distribution system that delivered food under the
    UN oil-for-food programme.

    Some 60 per cent of Iraqis depended on the programme to
    survive before it was suspended when the US-led war started,
    making it vital to resume aid as soon as possible.

    But internal instabilities are holding up aid agencies
    trying to enter Iraq.

    Kenro Oshidari, Deputy Director of the WFP's regional
    bureau for Asia in Bangkok, said that it was still difficult
    to take aid into the country.

    "Well at the moment, as I said, the amount we are taking
    in is quite limited. However during the post-conflict period,
    when the humanitarian aid can more freely go in, we expect the
    WFP may have to take in 480,000 tonnes of food per month and
    from Asia right now we have procured about 90,000 tonnes of
    food," said Oshidari.

    WFP estimates suggest that the majority of the country's
    population will have exhausted their reserves by early May,
    making it vital that supply corridors are set up.

    "Right now our assistance would be rather limited to
    people who have escaped Iraq, refugees or certain groups of
    internally displaced people inside Iraq. But eventually, when
    the humanitarian aid can flow more freely, then we may have to
    feed up to 27 million people which is the entire population of
    Iraq," said Oshidari.

    The programme will use 9,300 trucks out of Turkey,
    Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq to try to get aid into
    Iraq as soon as possible.

    But with the situation within the country still unsettled,
    even the captain of the "Thor Navigator" is unsure about where
    they will be unloading. However, he said that he had no fears
    that security dangers would disrupt the journey.

    "This voyage, we think we will cover it in about 15 days,
    the voyage from here to Iraq. But we don't actually know what
    the destination is. But for the problem of traffic I think
    nothing because right now the war is already finished," said
    Thor Navigator Captain Surasak Satiansuwan.

    The journey will take at least 15 days, depending on the
    final destination.


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