IRIN
IRAQ CRISIS: Weekly Round-Up Number 76
21 - 27 August 2004


Ankara, 8/27/2004 (IRIN) - Key Humanitarian Developments

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday welcomed 
efforts by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to find a peaceful solution to 
the situation in the holy city of Najaf, noting he was encouraged by 
reports that an agreement to halt armed hostilities in Najaf had been 
reached. The Secretary-General called upon all parties to respect the 
sanctity of the Imam Ali Mosque, which is one of the holiest shrines for 
Muslims all over the world.

Annan expressed concern over the humanitarian situation created as a 
result of recent hostilities and reminded all parties of their 
responsibilities under international humanitarian law, including their 
obligation to ensure free and unhindered access of medical personnel and 
humanitarian aid to all areas in need.

Canada's minister of international cooperation, Aileen Carroll, announced 
on Thursday that in response to a UN appeal for support for Iraqi 
elections, Ottawa is allocating a further US $20 million to the United 
Nations Development Group (UNDG) Iraq Trust Fund. The funds are part of 
Canada's $100 million pledge to the International Reconstruction Fund 
Facility for Iraq (IRFFI), made in October 2003, and will be provided by 
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Iraq's January 2005 election costs include infrastructure and equipment 
for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, voter registration and 
voting abroad. "Strengthening the democratic process is an area where 
Canada is making a significant contribution," minister Carroll said in the 
Canadian capital.

USAID reported on Wednesday that for the first time since the 2003 
conflict, all four units of Basra governorate's power plant were operating 
simultaneously. The plant is now generating an average of 177 MW each day 
and is expected to produce over 200 MW once cooler weather sets in around 
October. USAID added it was also on schedule to complete the restoration 
of 14 water treatment plants in the Basra region by the end of October 
2004. The US aid agency also reported it had opened 110 primary health 
care clinics throughout the country and delivered primary healthcare kits 
to 600 clinics countrywide.

An Italian Red Cross convoy carrying aids to Iraq came under attack by 
unidentified armed men on Tuesday while it was travelling from Baghdad to 
Najaf, and three vehicles were destroyed. The convoy was attacked Tuesday 
morning in the region of Latifiyah, south of Baghdad. The three damaged 
vehicles included an ambulance, a cooler for transporting medical aid and 
a pick-up truck.

In a week where the kidnapping and execution of foreigners continued, a 
Kuwaiti transport firm said it would cease operations in Iraq in order to 
save the lives of seven employees held hostage by an insurgent group 
calling itself the ``Black Banners'', it was reported on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company (KGL) said 
the company was pulling out following the release late on Thursday of a 
video in which the group said all hostages would be released if KGL left 
Iraq. All seven hostages - three Kenyans, three Indians and an Egyptian - 
are truck drivers with KGL.


CONTENTS:

IRAQ: Aid agencies and health ministry struggle to help Najaf injured and
   displaced
IRAQ: Local NGO sector struggling to establish itself
IRAQ: Focus on rebuilding universities in north
IRAQ: Palestinian refugees find temporary accommodation
IRAQ: Those who fled Najaf, Kufa fighting want to go home


IRAQ: Aid agencies and health ministry struggle to help Najf injured and 
displaced

Iraqi's health ministry, along with aid agencies, have been battling to 
cope with hundreds of injured and the feeding of thousands of families 
made homeless by three weeks of fighting in the southern cities of Najaf 
and Kufa as Shi'ite rebels began handing in weapons and leaving Najaf's 
holy shrine on Friday.Tens of thousands of pilgrims flocked to celebrate a 
peace deal reached overnight to end the bloody uprising. Fighters tossed 
AK-47 assault rifles and mortar launchers into wooden carts being pushed 
around near the sacred Imam Ali mosque after an order from renegade cleric 
Moqtada al-Sadr for his Mehdi Army militia to disarm and leave the shrine.

More details


IRAQ: Local NGO sector struggling to establish itself

Pictures of good works line the dingy and dirty walls and files full of 
cases are stacked high on every desk at the Center for Helping Harmed and 
Needy Families near the National Theatre in central Baghdad. Volunteers in 
one room deal with a batch of files; two guards stand watch at a desk 
downstairs. A sign on the building outside points the way to the local aid 
agency, unusual in a city where all international aid agencies have taken 
down anything showing where they are located for security reasons, or 
closed their doors altogether.

More details


IRAQ: Focus on rebuilding universities in north

"If you want to change this country for the better", Dr Kemal Khoshnaw, 
president of Sulaymaniyah University, told IRIN, "you have to start with 
the educational system."  It's an attitude common among Iraq's teaching 
staff. Despite all the international talk of democracy-building, though, 
there's much less evidence of it inside the country. Immediately after 
their arrival in Baghdad last April, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) 
officials responsible for overseeing Iraq's neglected and looted schools 
and universities immediately set about calculating how much money was 
needed to create viable new centres of learning.

More details


IRAQ: Palestinian refugees find temporary accommodation

Palestinian refugee Farha Selim and her family are back in a rented 
apartment with running water and sporadic electricity after living in a 
tent on a soccer field for more than a year. Selim, 55, her daughter, her 
son-in-law and their son Mohammed will all be living in the small 
three-room flat for at least another year with funds from the office of 
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Selim's 
daughter, Feryal Mohammed, 27, told IRIN as she shelled peas. Even though 
the apartment is small and stifling in the city's summer heat, the living 
room couch crammed into the entrance hall and thin mattresses on the floor 
in the bedrooms, it's much better than the tent, Mohammed said.

More details


IRAQ: Those who fled Najaf, Kufa fighting want to go home

US forces and Shiite militants fought fierce battles in Najaf on Monday, 
with air raids near a revered shrine and exchanges of mortar fire and 
artillery, as the US military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to 
quickly hand over the holy site to Shiite religious authorities. The 
conflict has created an unprecedented number of displaced people, 
according to aid organisations. Fighting in the holy city of Najaf, about 
160 km south of Baghdad has raged for more than two weeks between US 
forces and Mehdi Army forces loyal to anti-US cleric Moqtada Sadr. The 
radical cleric is wanted by Iraqi authorities in connection with the 
murder of a rival.

More details


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