UN prepared to provide relief in violence-torn Basra: officials

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. humanitarian agencies announced today that they are ready to provide assistance in Basra, where militant followers of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been battling Iraqi and coalition forces.
Veronique Taveau of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) voiced concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in both Basra, in the country’s south-east, and Sadr City, a neighbourhood in the capital Baghdad. Half of the 3.2 million-strong population of these areas are children, she said.
She said UNICEF is equipped to help 70,000 families by providing water and sanitation support, including 39 million water purification tablets and 40,000 sachets of oral rehydration salts to treat young children for diarrhoea.
However, she warned that movement and access to Basra’s population is currently impossible.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has prepositioned 1,600 blood bags and trauma kits to treat injuries, while the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has 200 tons of food ready to distribute outside Basra.
For its part, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is prepared to hand out non-food items, such as blankets, cooking stoves and water containers, for up to 8,000 families.