US plead for $35bn to jump-start Iraq renewal

UNITED STATES and Iraqi officials pleaded for billions of pounds to rebuild Iraq at a donors’ conference yesterday, admitting that they may not get what they need.

Despite the unanimous approval last week of a new United Nations resolution setting out Iraq’s future course, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged that lingering divisions over Washington’s still-prominent role in running the country might deter some donors.

However, he insisted such concerns should be set aside. “The long-term challenge of reconstruction has to be faced by all of us,” he said in opening remarks to delegates from 77 countries.

France and Germany, leading opponents of the US-led war, have both cited concerns about the slow pace of restoring Iraq’s sovereignty for their refusal to pledge any new money now.

Chris Patten, the European Union’s external affairs commissioner, told a news conference the world cannot expect nations that “felt particularly hostile to military intervention, to feel hugely enthusiastic about spending a large amount of money in Iraq.”

However, a senior US official disputed that, saying Washington has picked up no signs that anti-war sentiment is affecting nations’ willingness to donate to Iraq’s rebuilding.

Ahead of the meeting, Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell sought to lower expectations that Washington would come away with the entire $35.8 billion it hopes to raise, to jump-start Iraq’s economic recovery through 2007.

“It may take time to meet the goal,” Powell said, referring to the World Bank target of more than $55 billion dollars, which includes the Bush administration’s pledge of nearly $20 billion

Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, said after arriving in Madrid that it was “too early to know what the donations will be.” Asked about World Bank estimates that Iraq can absorb only about $5.6 billion in the first year, he said all the money asked for could be spent over next 15 months.

In London, a British aid group claimed that Bremer’s agency has failed to account for most of the $5bn already allocated to it for rebuilding the country.

Christian Aid said the US-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) had only explained how it had spent $1bn of the funds. These include $1bn from the former UN Oil for Food programme, $2.5bn in assets seized from Saddam’s regime, and $1.5bn in oil revenue.