EU plans new aid package for Iraq

Feb 15, 2007, 11:43 GMT

Brussels - The European Commission on Thursday said it was preparing a new aid package worth 10.2 million euros to help ease the current humanitarian crisis in Iraq.

The commission - the European Union's executive agency - said the funds were aimed at easing the plight of up to 2 million Iraqis who have crossed into neighbouring countries and an almost similar number displaced within Iraq.

Of the total, about 6 million euros is being earmarked for refugees who have fled to countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Funds are expected to focus on providing the most vulnerable people - older people, children and women - with basic healthcare and education and include targeted distribution of food and essential household items.

An initial funding package of around 4 million euros is also being drawn up for people suffering inside Iraq.

The emergency funds are being channelled through the EU's humanitarian aid department, ECHO.

EU development chief Louis Michel cautioned that a 'tragic downward spiral of violence' was driving ever-larger numbers of Iraqis from their homes and livelihoods.

'The security quagmire in Iraq is not only a military and political challenge. It is also causing a humanitarian crisis with massive displacement of people,' warned Michel.

The EU commissioner warned that insecurity and extreme violence inside Iraq made it very difficult to deliver relief.

'But simple humanity demands that we must strive to find ways of surmounting this problem,' he insisted.