Fresh UN appeal for Iraq aid

By Greg Barrow BBC correspondent at the UN

Despite military conflict, Iraqis have fared better than expected

The United Nations is to launch a new appeal for $250m to cover the humanitarian aid needs of the Iraqi people for the rest of the year.

The money will be added to a fund of $2bn that has already been collected from donor nations and the account of the UN's oil-for-food programme.

Aid officials say the money is needed mainly to cover healthcare, sanitation, electricity supplies and basic infrastructural repair.

The aid appeal will be followed on Tuesday by a high level meeting involving Iraqi officials to discuss the long-term reconstruction of Iraq.

Dependent population

Despite grim assessments before the US-led military intervention in Iraq, the country's population of some 27 million people has coped far better than expected.

They are, nevertheless, almost entirely dependent on the UN and international aid agencies for food supplies.

The UN says it is satisfied with its funding for food stocks and says this new appeal is designed to cover other requirements - such as healthcare and basic repairs to the country's shattered infrastructure.

Long term plans

UN officials say it is their intention to phase out the bulk of humanitarian assistance by the end of 2003.

By then the hope is that longer term reconstruction will be under way.

Tuesday's meeting sees representatives of the occupying powers - Britain and the United States - and a small number of Iraqi civil servants who have been appointed to the transitional administration in Baghdad, meeting for discussions with UN agencies about the longer term plans for rebuilding Iraq.

The gathering is being seen as a prelude to a bigger conference on reconstruction in Iraq, which is scheduled for September this year.