UN: additional $259 million in relief aid to Iraq

UN set to launch appeal for additional $259 million in relief aid to Iraq

The United Nations will launch a new humanitarian appeal for Iraq next week calling for an additional $259 million on top of a $2.2 billion dollar flash request it opened in March to cover relief operations until the end of the year.

The appeal is based on a range of humanitarian needs assessments on the ground and extensive consultations and covers revised requirements for the period from 1 April to 31 December.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette will formally launch the appeal on Monday in the chamber of the UN Economic and Social Council, and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kenzo Oshima and Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Ramiro Lopes da Silva are also slated to speak.

On Monday afternoon, there will be a closed session during which senior officials from UN agencies working in Iraq will brief on the current humanitarian situation in the country. Some 50 delegations are expected to attend.

On Tuesday, there will be an informal information-sharing and planning meeting on Iraq, to be opened by the Administrator of the UN Development Programme, Mark Malloch Brown, which will include many of the same delegations attending the Monday meeting.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is travelling to Amman, Jordan, tomorrow to attend the World Economic Forum, where he will brief Mr. Annan on his thinking about the role of the UN in Iraq.

Over the past two weeks in Baghdad, Mr. Vieira de Mello has held wide-ranging consultations with a full spectrum of Iraqi leaders, many of whom have called for a leading UN role in helping to establish new democratic institutions in the country.

© Scoop Media