Madrid pledges just a start for Iraq, Annan says

Reuters ^ | 10/24/03

[areafiftyone]

NATIONS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Funds pledged in Madrid will be only the starting point in Iraqi reconstruction, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday, predicting governments would give more over time as security improved.

"We should not judge the success of Iraqi reconstruction by the contributions that are announced today. This is only the beginning of a process," Annan said a day after opening the Madrid meeting of some 70 governments and international agencies weighing contributions to the rebuilding of Iraq.

"One shouldn't expect governments to indicate all that they are going to do for Iraq today in Madrid," Annan told reporters on returning to U.N. headquarters. "It is a process and over time governments will do more."

While in Madrid, he said, "I also indicated that security was a constraint, and we need to do something about that issue, and I think everybody agrees with that."

The Madrid meeting, sponsored by Spain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, was convened to raise funds toward the $56 billion the United Nations and World Bank say Iraq needs to rebuild over the next four years.

In opening the two-day meeting, Annan had called on donors to dig deep in their pockets and not dwell on differences with Washington over the pace of a return to Iraqi self-government.

Some potential donors have been discouraged by the continuing sabotage and attacks on international targets, including the U.S.-led forces occupying Iraq, which have made reconstruction work extremely hazardous.

Others, seeking a quick return to self-rule, have balked at channeling aid through Baghdad's U.S. administration.

But promises of aid and loans poured in on the final day of the conference, although in a confusing mixture that made an accurate tally a challenge as pledges came in the form of humanitarian and reconstruction aid, export credits and project finance, all covering different time periods.

A Reuters calculation showed total pledges of aid and loans totaling some $17.5 billion over a maximum of five years in addition to the $20 billion promised by the United States, and additional contributions were still trickling in.

[misterrob]

You know, the UN should be footing the bill for rebuilding Iraq as after all, it was the (ineffective) economic sanctions that allowed Iraq to go down the tubes.