Leading aid groups workingin Iraq complained to President George W. Bush todaytheir programs were being hampered by rampant insecurity the absence of a civil service and limited access to US occupiers in Baghdad.
In a letter sent to the president, the nine nongovernmentalorganizations strongly urged the US government to "addressthe problems that are greatly hindering the fulfillment of itsobligations as the occupying power in Iraq."
Critical about the transparency of the US-led CoalitionProvisional Authority, they also echoed a plea by many NGOs forthe United Nations to play a key role in the reconstruction andrelief phase in Iraq.
"It is the only institution with an international mandateto coordinate such a response and one of the few withsubstantial experience in this area," said the letter.
The letter was signed by CARE, Oxfam America, RefugeesInternational, World Vision, Air Serv, Relief International,Concern Worldwide, Church World Service and Lutheran WorldRelief.
Oxfam America spokesman Nathaniel Raymond, said the letterreflected the urgent need for the United Nations to have acentral role."Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel," he toldReuters. "The US can't wait, the UN must be brought in."
US forces in Iraq are under daily attack and the aidgroups said humanitarian organizations were also targets,telling the president the World Food Program and theInternational Organization for Migration had been victims.
"In addition, rampant criminal activity is hindering theability of humanitarian workers to provide life-saving servicesto the people of Iraq," they wrote.
One aid agency working in the region told Reutershumanitarian workers did not want to be seen in the vicinity ofUS troops for fear they would be attacked.
"In any conflict situation, it is critical aid workers areseen as neutral actors that are not part and parcel of apolitical agenda. When those lines get blurred then people gethurt," he said.
The letter said warehouses were being looted, vehiclesstolen and more areas were off-limits because of increasedviolence. In addition Iraqi women were too afraid to engage innormal daily activities and girls were scared to go to school.
The collapse of the Iraqi civil service was a seriousproblem and the groups said the fact Iraqi civil servants inhealth services and other critical jobs remained unpaid furtherundermined the willingness of Iraqis to cooperate.
In addition, access to officials of the CoalitionProvisional Authority, including those assigned to governmentministries, remained very difficult for Iraqi civilians as wellas NGOs.
Identifying government counterparts whose portfoliosincluded humanitarian and development assistance was achallenge, they said.
"In addition, many of the CPA's plans and policies lacktransparency, undermining the trust of the Iraqi people andcreating unnecessary hurdles for aid groups," the letter said.