Oil-For-Food Probe Will Praise WFP
By NICK WADHAMS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 31, 2005; 5:50 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N.-backed oil-for-food probe has concluded that the World Food Program did an effective job in delivering food aid to northern Iraq, the agency's chief said in a letter obtained Wednesday.
However, the Independent Inquiry Committee has found fault with several of the other nine U.N. agencies that provided most of the humanitarian relief to northern Iraq under the $64 billion operation, World Food Program Director Jim Morris wrote.
Despite that criticism, the conclusion about WFP would be a boost to the United Nations, which has been put on the defensive over allegations of fraud and corruption in the program, among the largest humanitarian operations in history.
The U.N. has maintained that, despite the allegations, the 1996-2003 program achieved what it set out to do: Alleviate the suffering caused by tough U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Morris' letter went out to WFP's leading donors on Monday. He wrote that its staff had a meeting on Aug. 18 with investigators from the probe, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
We were extremely pleased by their comments as they confirmed that our staff in Iraq had done the kind of effective job we have always contended, Morris wrote.
Volcker spokesman Mike Holtzman would not comment on Morris' interpretation of its findings, saying that would have to wait until the final report comes out next week.
But Volcker's team has been investigating the nine U.N. agencies for months to learn more about their handling of up to $500 million they were either advanced or reimbursed for administration costs.
© 2005 The Associated Press