wfn.org | Up to Three Million Internally Displaced Persons Expected in Iraq

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF and Partner Organizations Focus on Providing Water, Food and
Shelter

AMMAN, Jordan/GENEVA, 7 April 2003 (LWI) - Knut Eker is preparing
for his journey home. For two and a half months the Norwegian
engineer has been coordinating the activities of the Norwegian
churches' relief agency, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). The NCA staff
have been setting up the water supply and sanitary installations
in the United Nations reception camp situated on the Iraqi border.
Another contingent from Norway will take charge of the project. On
his last working day, another violent sandstorm prevents Eker from
checking the progress of the work in the camp. To see anything at
all, they would have needed protective spectacles, he says.

The camp under the auspices of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is prepared to receive refugees,
but none have arrived. "No Iraqi has come yet," confirms Eker who,
three weeks ago, was preparing for his Baghdad assignment. The NCA
has been repairing sewage treatment plants in the Iraqi capital
for years. Eker's task would have included the training of workers
in water recycling techniques. The threat of war put those plans
on hold.

Just before the war started, the Norwegian agency sent four water
processing plants to Iraq. Two are supplying the largest hospital
in Baghdad. It is not possible to find out where the rest are
being used because telephone links with the city have been cut
off. The NCA is a member of Action by Churches Together
International (ACT), a world-wide network of churches and partner
organizations coordinating emergency assistance for people in
need. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a founding member of
the Geneva, Ecumenical Center-based ACT.

Although there have been no waves of refugees, the UN refugee
agency is keeping the camps ready. During the 1991 Gulf war as
well, less than 19,000 refugees arrived in the first two weeks of
the conflict, emphasized UNHCR spokesman, Peter Kessler, in the
Jordanian capital Amman. Supplies currently available for some
300,000 people include blankets, tents, mattresses, cooking
utensil, water canisters and toilet articles.

On April 4, Mr Bobby Waddell, LWF/DWS Representative in Kenya,
concluded his term as LWF special representative in Amman. His
three-week assignment included mapping out future activities in
response to the Iraq situation. The current focus includes plans
for food distribution and erection of shelters for IDPs inside
Iraq. Mr Neville Pradhan, LWF/DWS Program Officer for Refugees and
Emergencies, will be traveling to the Jordanian capital on April
9, to take up where Waddell has left for 10 days. An ACT
coordinating meeting is already planned for April 10-11.

Waddell was in close contact with UN organizations, other ACT
members on the ground, such as NCA, the Middle East Council of
Churches, as well as with colleagues in the ACT Regional
Coordination Office (ACT-RCO) recently established in Amman. In
addition, the LWF seconded Barry Lynam, a financial expert who has
worked for LWF country programs for many years, to the ACT-RCO as
a financial adviser/trainer to local ACT members in the region.
Waddell returns to his regular activities in the LWF Kenya/Sudan
program.

Perhaps it will be possible in the coming days to start to
implement the extensive plans. At the weekend, an NCA staff person
returning to the Jordanian capital after an assessment visit to
Umm Qasr, reported that the transportation of goods and equipment
to the southern part of the country may even begin in the next few
days.

The UN staff say they expect up to three million new IDPs inside
Iraq, two million of whom would be in the central and southern
parts of the country. It is assumed that one quarter of these
people will have to be accommodated in tents and another quarter
can use public buildings. According to UN information, about 50
percent have already taken refuge with relatives. In the plans for
refugee camps in Iraq, the LWF is mainly offering support in the
running and administration of camps, based on its years of
experience, and in the distribution of aid. NCA has declared its
readiness to undertake the provision of water and sanitation in
the camps.

(By LWI correspondent, Rainer Lang in Amman, Jordan)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where
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material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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