IRAQ: Offer Unacceptable, Say NGOs

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Oct 27 2003 (IPS) - Loans pledged to Iraq at a donors conference in Madrid last week are “unacceptable”, a leading NGO says.

More than 1,000 delegates, including several from the United Nations (UN), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United States, the European Union (EU) and Japan, attended the conference called by the Spanish government Thursday and Friday last week to discuss and fund the reconstruction of Iraq.

According to UN and World Bank estimates, some 56 billion dollars is needed to rebuild the war-torn country over the next four years.

The United States, which had already pledged 20 billions dollars before the conference, had hoped the conference would produce the remaining 36 billion dollars.

Donor pledges fell short of expectations, and produced some 13 billion dollars. Japan made the biggest commitment at the meeting – 1.5 billion dollars in grants for next year and 3.5 billion dollars in loans for 2005-2007. The EU pledged 812 million dollars for 2004 and 1.5 billion dollars through 2007. Other pledges included 500 million dollars from Kuwait, 24.2 million dollars from China and 30 million dollars from India for 2004. Some NGOs (non-governmental organisations) say these donations mask the real challenges because nearly two-thirds of the money pledged is by way of loans.

“Although this money is very welcome, it is unclear how much will be in loans,” Christian Aid spokesman Dominic Nutt told IPS. Iraq already has huge loans to repay, he said. “When will they be written off?”

There is no exact figure how much debt the Saddam-era Iraq piled up, but official estimates place it around 130 billion dollars.

Iraq hopes to renegotiate much of those debts. But some countries, including Arab countries, have said they will not reopen the issue.

Christian Aid cautiously welcomed establishment of the International Advisory Monitoring Board(IAMB) to oversee government pledges. But the charity remains “very skeptical” about the intentions of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-controlled body that rules Iraq, to introduce the monitoring board, Nutt said.

“It is far from clear what its terms of reference are, or will be,” he said. “Will it have real power to investigate the spending of oil and assets money? The Coalition Provisional Authority refuses to say.”

The IAMB, which was due to be set up in May will monitor the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI). It will include members from the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, and the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development.

NGOs say the security situation in Iraq should be top priority for donors. “Nothing can happen until there is security, and security won’t be possible until Iraqis begin to trust the United States,” Nutt said. “At the moment, the U.S. is not trusted and this is in part because it is not being transparent.”

A spokesperson for Amnesty International echoed this view.

“Pledges should now prioritise Iraqis’ human rights,” the spokesperson told IPS. “These measure should include their right to personal security, health, education and work.”

The spokesperson added: “Reconstruction should now ensure the effective protection and realisation of all human rights for all Iraqis. Iraqis themselves should be able to make the decisions on rebuilding, on foreign investment, and on the selling of state assets.”