IRAQ: UAE sends second shipload of aid

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI, Apr 25 2003 (IPS) - A shipload of relief aid will leave the United Arab Emirates (UAE) tonight for Um Qasr port in Iraq as part of an assistance campaign launched by the UAE Red Crescent Society (RCS) on the directives of President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

The ship, the second in a row, carries 700 tons of foodstuff, 10 ambulance vans, medical materials, drugs, 3 tank trucks and a truck at the expense of Sheikh Zayed, according to Khalifa Nasser Al Swueidi, RCS Board Chairman.

– The consignment is the second of its kind shipped by the RCS as a gesture of support to the Iraqi people and is part of a humanitarian program launched four months ago," Al Suweidi said.

He noted that all relief materials sent to Iraq were distributed by RCS teams, deployed in Iraq and Kuwait, in coordination with the Iraq Red Crescent and local dignitaries in southern Iraq’s areas.