April 7, 2003

AMMAN, Jordan - Knut Eker is preparing for his journey home. For two and a half months the Norwegian engineer has been coordinating the activities of the Norwegian churches' relief agency, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). The NCA staff have been setting up the water supply and sanitary installations in the United Nations reception camp situated on the Iraqi border. Another contingent from Norway will take charge of the project. On his last working day, another violent sandstorm prevents Eker from checking the progress of the work in the camp. To see anything at all, they would have needed protective spectacles, he says.

The camp under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is prepared to receive refugees, but none have arrived. "No Iraqi has come yet," confirms Eker who, three weeks ago, was preparing for his Baghdad assignment. The NCA has been repairing sewage treatment plants in the Iraqi capital for years. Eker's task would have included the training of workers in water recycling techniques. The threat of war put those plans on hold.

Just before the war started, the Norwegian agency sent four water processing plants to Iraq. Two are supplying the largest hospital in Baghdad. It is not possible to find out where the rest are being used because telephone links with the city have been cut off. The NCA is a member of Action by Churches Together International (ACT), a world-wide network of churches and partner organizations coordinating emergency assistance for people in need. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a founding member of the Geneva, Ecumenical Center-based ACT.

Although there have been no waves of refugees, the UN refugee agency is keeping the camps ready. During the 1991 Gulf war as well, less than 19,000 refugees arrived in the first two weeks of the conflict, emphasized UNHCR spokesman, Peter Kessler, in the Jordanian capital Amman. Supplies currently available for some 300,000 people include blankets, tents, mattresses, cooking utensil, water canisters and toilet articles.

On April 4, Mr Bobby Waddell, LWF/DWS Representative in Kenya, concluded his term as LWF special representative in Amman. His three-week assignment included mapping out future activities in response to the Iraq situation. The current focus includes plans for food distribution and erection of shelters for IDPs inside Iraq. Mr Neville Pradhan, LWF/DWS Program Officer for Refugees and Emergencies, will be traveling to the Jordanian capital on April 9, to take up where Waddell has left for 10 days. An ACT coordinating meeting is already planned for April 10-11.

Waddell was in close contact with UN organizations, other ACT members on the ground, such as NCA, the Middle East Council of Churches, as well as with colleagues in the ACT Regional Coordination Office (ACT-RCO) recently established in Amman. In addition, the LWF seconded Barry Lynam, a financial expert who has worked for LWF country programs for many years, to the ACT-RCO as a financial adviser/trainer to local ACT members in the region. Waddell returns to his regular activities in the LWF Kenya/Sudan program.

Perhaps it will be possible in the coming days to start to implement the extensive plans. At the weekend, an NCA staff person returning to the Jordanian capital after an assessment visit to Umm Qasr, reported that the transportation of goods and equipment to the southern part of the country may even begin in the next few days.

The UN staff say they expect up to three million new IDPs inside Iraq, two million of whom would be in the central and southern parts of the country. It is assumed that one quarter of these people will have to be accommodated in tents and another quarter can use public buildings. According to UN information, about 50 percent have already taken refuge with relatives. In the plans for refugee camps in Iraq, the LWF is mainly offering support in the running and administration of camps, based on its years of experience, and in the distribution of aid. NCA has declared its readiness to undertake the provision of water and sanitation in the camps.

Lutheran World Information
By LWI correspondent, Rainer Lang in Amman, Jordan