VARIOUS: LEADING AID AGENCIES BECOME INCREASINGLY ANGRY ABOUT DEGREDATION OF SECURITY IN OCCUPIED AREAS OF IRAQ

Record ID: 858223

  • Title: VARIOUS: LEADING AID AGENCIES BECOME INCREASINGLY ANGRY ABOUT DEGREDATION OF SECURITY IN OCCUPIED AREAS OF IRAQ
  • Date: 3rd August 2003
  • Summary: (EU)KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT (APRIL 11, 2003)(REUTERS) SLV COLONEL CHRIS VERNON, BRITISH MILITARY SPOKESMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLONEL CHRIS VERNON SAYING "The situation in Basra? Yes, there is a breakdown in law and order, to some extent, following the immediate few hours of liberation. That is, perhaps, to be expected. There's a huge level of excitement and a degree of trepidation there. We're beginning to stamp down on it, but for the moment, we have to configure ourselves to take on, if there is any, irregular resistance. But you will see us over the next seventy two hours or so begin to change our posture, to handle what we call this internal security type of operation."
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT / BASRA, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq Kuwait
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVACBOVSP1LYPC0IFGV5FS1B1APW
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Leading aid agencies are becoming increasingly angry about the degradation of security in occupied areas of Iraq which they say is making impossible to distribute aid.
    With the controversy raging over the breakdown of law and order in Iraq, a British military spokesman acknowledged for the first time there was a problem and promised that his forces would do something about it soon.
    Urgently needed humanitarian aid for Iraq. About 20,000 tonnes of sponsored wheat piled up in one of two warehouses in Kuwait City. Much of it arrived in a blaze of publicity to relieve a humanitarian crisis in Iraq two weeks ago. But, so far, it has gone nowhere.
    The problem is one of security. The invasion of Iraq by U.S.-led forces initially caused celebrations on the streets of the country's main cities. But, since then, the joy has turned to fear, with widespread looting threatening law and order.
    WFP spokesperson Antonia Paradela on Friday (April 11) called on the British and U.S. forces to do something to restore order to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid to millions of Iraqis whose lives have been disrupted by the fighting.
    She reminded the U.S.-led forces that it was their duty under international law to ensure that public order does not disintegrate so that the food can be distributed through a network of 44,000 agents.
    The British forces occupying southeastern Iraq argue that they are still busy fighting a war and dealing with the remnants of the defeated Iraqi army and renegade troops still threatening the military forces.
    In the past few days, senior soldiers have played down the impact of looting in Basra, Iraq's second largest city. But Colonel Chris Vernon, the spokesman for the British military forces, acknowledged that it was posing a problem.
    He promised that, in the next three days, the British Army would start putting internal security higher up its agenda to protect the infrastructure of the city.
    Although the situation is not a dire emergency, time is pressing. Paradela estimated that there is enough food in Iraq to last until the end of April. After that, supplies will run short
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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