MADRID: The situation is critical in Iraq, and the Iraqi people cannot wait for reconstruction to get under way, UN secretary general Mr Kofi Annan told the 1,200 delegates from 70 countries in his address to the Iraq Donors' Conference, which opened in Madrid yesterday morning.
Mr Annan said that the most urgent problem is the lack of security. "It will be impossible to bring in humanitarian aid and begin to rebuild the shattered infrastructure until the country is safe," he said.
The destruction caused by many years of dictatorship, three wars and 10 years of trade embargo cannot be wiped out overnight.
Experts believe it could take at least 20 years for Iraq to return to normality. Some 60 per cent of Iraqis need food aid, they only have electricity for two-four hours a day, if at all, safe drinking water is scarce, raw sewage runs through the streets and contaminates rivers and water supplies, and hospitals and schools are having to cope without essential supplies.
It has been estimated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that Iraq will need around $36 billion over the next four years to begin rebuilding the country, in addition to the $20 billion being administered by the US.
Around $8 billion had been pledged by this week, more than some had predicted but still far short of the goal.
"I don't expect the countries to announce all their donations in Madrid. This conference is only the beginning of a long process," said Mr Annan, calling on them to be generous.
But Mr Ayad Allawi, head of the Iraqi provisional government delegation at the conference, said they were optimistic that the meeting would yield concrete aid for his country, but he was reluctant to give more figures.
A parallel private-sector forum was inaugurated in an adjoining building by Mr Rodrigo Rato, the Spanish Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. It was attended by representatives from 310 business organisations and six international financial bodies from 45 countries. Mr Rato told them that the private sector was as important, if not more so, than the public sector.
Officials had stressed that this was not a trade fair for businesses to sign contracts in Iraq, but was to inform them of the needs of the country and the openings that will be available to private enterprise.
Mr Javier Taberna, chairman of the Iraq-Spain trade committee, said it was useful and valuable for businessmen to learn first hand from Iraqi officials about what was needed.
But some of the businessmen were doubtful and said they feared that US companies would monopolise the most lucrative contracts.
Members of the many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at the conference were divided about the benefits which would result from the meeting and many of them complained that the conference was "politicising" a humanitarian crisis.
"It's window dressing, looking at political aspects for public consumption in the countries attending and not real humanitarian necessities in Iraq," complained Mr Rafael Vila Sanjuan, the international secretary of Medicins Sans Frontier, the NGO which is working alongside humanitarian organisations such as Oxfam, Save the Children, Caritas and the Red Cross in the Iraq Steering Committee.
Mr Vila said he was not optimistic about the results of the conference. "It is a year since we held a similar meeting in Tokyo for donations to rebuild Afghanistan. Less than 20 per cent of the funds promised then have materialised today."
But while politicians and delegates in Madrid were debating the future of Iraq, 45 Iraqi children, many of them orphans, were boarding a military plane bound for Spain. Twenty of them have come to Spain for treatment, not available in Iraq, for leukaemia and other medical conditions. The others will be housed in a camp for a break from the stress and hardships in Iraq.