First relief convoy sets out for Iraq

The first sizeable relief convoy set out for Iraq in a biting sandstorm today as allied forces struggled to clear the way for more aid shipments, using dolphins to remove mines from waterways and hunting Iraqi fighters around the port of Umm Qasr.

Three days after US President George Bush promised “massive amounts” of humanitarian aid, seven large, battered tractor-trailers set off for Umm Qasr carrying food and water donated by Kuwaitis. The convoy was escorted by US soldiers.

“We planned for 30 trucks but we only got seven loaded because of the severe sandstorm,” said EJ Russell of the Humanitarian Operations Centre, a joint U.S.-Kuwaiti agency. The storm cut visibility to about 100 yards.

Hundreds of cases of water were stacked on three of the trucks. The rest carried boxes of tuna, crackers, sweets and other food.

Kuwait yesterday sent four ambulances and eight cars loaded with medicine and medical equipment towards a makeshift clinic on the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border.

Plans to bring supplies to Iraqi civilians have been on hold for days because of fighting across southern Iraq. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday warned US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that America is legally responsible for providing relief aid.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer blamed Saddam Hussein’s regime for slowing the flow of £65 million in US aid by placing mines in the port of Umm Qasr.

US Navy helicopters flew two dolphins – Makai and Tacoma – into Umm Qasr, where they were to begin searching out mines today. The city’s deepwater port is considered essential for any relief effort.

Royal Marine commandos carried out an overnight sweep around the port, searching for Iraqi hold-outs. The British said they had enough control over the area to begin sending in ships.

A British ship, the Sir Galahad, moved into position at the mouth of the Khor Abdallah river last night with 211 tons of food and 101 tons of bottled water. It was to begin the six-hour journey into Umm Qasr today.

Iraqis have about five weeks of food left, according to estimates by the UN’s World Food Programme. About 13 million people – 60% of Iraq’s 22 million – are completely dependent on food handouts.

The World Food Programme said it would make its biggest single request for cash in its history – more than £600m (€886m) to help feed the war-stricken nation for about six months.

“This could well turn into the largest humanitarian operation in history,” said agency spokesman Trevor Rowe.

Conditions in Basra seemed especially severe, and Annan called for “urgent measures” to avert a major crisis there. Electricity and water supplies have been cut off in the city, and many of the million-plus residents are drinking contaminated water and face the threat of diarrhoea and cholera.

The UN Children’s Fund estimated that up to 100,000 Basra children under the age of five were at immediate risk.

Before the war, Iraqis depended on government rations distributed under the UN’s oil-for-food programme. The seven-year-old programme allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods. The proceeds from oil sales are deposited in a UN-controlled escrow account.

The war has thrown the future of that programme in doubt.

Because the United States and Britain failed to get UN backing for the war, Russia, France, Germany and China want to ensure that the immediate humanitarian costs of the war are paid by the US – and not the United Nations.

Annan wants to revive the UN aid programme as quickly as possible. A resolution giving him authority to run the programme for 45 days is stalled because Russia, Syria and others are insisting the UN must not sanction the war or give the US control over the UN-controlled account, which holds billions of pounds.

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh accused the US and Britain of causing the hardships by launching the war and disrupting shipments of supplies under the oil-for-food programme.

He claimed, though, that Iraq can fend for itself: “Iraq does not need any humanitarian assistance. We are a rich country.”