Aid poses problem for coalition

Aid poses problem for coalition

By Owen Bennett-Jones
BBC correspondent on board Sir Galahad

Whilst American and British troops focus on the fighting in Iraq, humanitarian aid is becoming an increasingly important part of the campaign to persuade Iraqis that the invading forces are liberators not occupiers.

On Thursday the British supply ship, the Sir Galahad, docked at the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. It was laden with 650 tonnes of food and water for the people of southern Iraq.

British soldier sits on a pile of water containers on the aid ship

Mine sweepers, some working with dolphins, had cleared a shipping channel 80 kilometres (50 miles) long but just 200 metres wide.

The Sir Galahad was escorted by patrol ships, armoured helicopters and inflatable boats to guard against the threat of suicide small boat attack.

A minesweeper, HMS Sandown, travelled 500 metres in front of the Sir Galahad to double check that the channel was clear.

The Captain of the Sir Galahad, Roger Robinson-Brown said his ship's arrival in Umm Qasr, Iraq's only deep water port, was meant to prove a point. "It shows that Umm Qasr is open for business", he said. "Other ships with aid supplies should now follow"

Distribution difficult

But other ships may not want to use the port before the cleared shipping lane has been widened. And even if more supplies do come in, distributing them will not be easy.

Two attempts by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent to deliver food and water to the border village of Safwan ended in chaos. Iraqi civilians mobbed aid trucks and, while the vulnerable looked on, the strongest and fittest managed to grab most of the supplies.

Non-governmental organisations, keen to maintain their neutral status, are reluctant to work with the military when distributing their aid

The military say that southern Iraq is so insecure they will have to handle aid distribution.

British logistics officers Brigadier Shaun Cowlam says that British troops will identify areas of need and either distribute the aid directly or ask village elders to share it out.

"Clearly security is our main problem but its relatively easy to identify where the need is," he said.

Some think soldiers should not hand out the aid. Non-governmental organisations, keen to maintain their neutral status, are reluctant to work with the military when distributing their aid.

The aid agencies also point out that the 650 tonnes on the Sir Galahad is little more than a symbolic effort.

They say that a nationwide aid campaign would cost over a billion dollars and that, so far, they have not received the necessary funds to carry out their work.

The first major target for aid is Iraq's second city of Basra.

At the moment British troops are only able to go into the city for limited night time raids. "We can not get the aid in there yet. We acknowledge that and we have to work on this Basra problem," said the British military spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon.