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[casi] Fund for Iraq outside of US control ?



Fund for Iraq proposed outside of US control
By Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, 6/24/2003
http://www.boston.com/news/daily/24/iraq_un.htm

UNITED NATIONS -- Wary of U.S. control of Iraqi development monies, several
European donors proposed Tuesday an international fund for reconstruction
during a 52-nation conference on measures to rebuild Iraq.

But the proposal for a separate fund was one of the few signs of discomfort
with the U.S.-led occupiers at the first U.N.-sponsored meeting among U.S.
and British occupation authorities, Iraqi delegates and international
agencies.

"A number of delegates wanted this to be seen as a moment of unity," said
Mark Malloch Brown, head of the U.N. Development Program, which initiated
the conference, referring to the bitterness over the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq.

"What it does show is that the membership is united around the issue of
building as quickly as possible an Iraq which is back on its own feet," he
told a news conference.

At the conclusion of the two-day meeting, the United Nations, the World
Bank, the European Union, Japan, the United Arab Emirates as well as the
United States agreed to organize a donors conference in October to address
reconstruction.

Malloch Brown said "there was strong support" for a separate fund, adding:
"Not every donor will necessarily use it. But we were asked to go away and
develop the options so at the time of the full conference donors could
decide how they wanted such a fund structured."

The new fund would be parallel to the Development Fund for Iraq set up by
the United States and Britain to spend Iraqi oil monies on emergency needs
and rebuilding the war-shattered country. Participants in the conference
said France and several other large donors said they wanted multinational
control over monies they might donate.

And their assistance will be needed. "There was general agreement that
petroleum income will not be sufficient to cover Iraq's reconstruction needs
over the next few years, making donor assistance essential," a closing
statement said.

The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which includes Iraqi members,
was pressed by U.N. officials and donor nations to put their its on paper
and devise a budget as soon as possible or the donor conference would
flounder.

"The basic message out of the meeting is that the CPA should, and in fact
is, preparing a preliminary budget for the rest of this year to 2004," said
Alan Larson, U.S. undersecretary of State for agricultural and economic
affairs.

LOOTING AND CHAOS

The post-war chaos and the looting of vital Iraqi ministries was never far
from the surface, with some delegates reminded of the deteriorating security
in Afghanistan.

"The lesson of Afghanistan hovered a bit like a ghost over the meeting,"
said Kathleen Hunt, a representative of CARE International and a participant
in the meetings.

"Security has to be addressed first, not as an afterthought, so ambitious
plans can be carried out," she said.

Ramiro Lopez da Silva, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, noted that
60 percent to 70 percent of Iraq's 25 million people had been totally
dependent on monthly food rations under the U.N.-Iraq oil-for-food
humanitarian program, now being phased out.

"The same is true of health systems, water and sanitation, electricity,
agriculture, education, housing and the like," he said. "There needs to be
social safety nets in place as (Iraq) moves to a market economy."

Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq, has made clear he wants
to privatize more than 40 government-owned firms. But he first wants to turn
inefficient state-run firms into corporate bodies.





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