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Aid plane prevented entering { April 17 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2585464 http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2585464 British Aid Plane Prevented from Entering Iraq Thu April 17, 2003 12:32 PM ET By Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. forces have refused a Save the Children plane permission to land in northern Iraq to deliver aid, breaching the Geneva Convention and "costing children their lives," the British aid agency said on Thursday. Save the Children said in a statement it had been trying for more than a week to land a plane in Arbil carrying enough medical supplies to treat 40,000 people and emergency feeding kits for malnourished children. A U.S. official told the charity no aid flights would be allowed until the area was safe but the U.N. has already declared Arbil a "safe and secure" area, the charity said. "The doctors we are trying to help have been struggling against the odds for weeks to continue saving lives, but now the help we have promised them is being endlessly delayed," Emergency Program Manager Rob MacGillivray said. "The lack of cooperation from the U.S. military is a breach of the Geneva Conventions and its protocols but more importantly the time now being wasted is costing children their lives." U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment. Under the Geneva Convention, occupying forces are obliged to protect civilians, restore law and order and open up space for humanitarian relief. A spokeswoman for Save the Children told Reuters the plane would also carry medical officials. She said the charity had already taken vehicles into Arbil with money for hospitals but they now needed medical supplies. The charity, who said the hospitals did not have sufficient water or power, also said the staff at one hospital had been forced to combat looters as they continued to work throughout fighting in the city. Aid officials say Iraq is in desperate need of medical and food deliveries following a month of fighting and years of economic sanctions and misrule. U.S. war commander General Tommy Franks said on Thursday that law and order was returning to Iraq following a wave of looting and that his forces were now firmly focused on aid and humanitarian operations. Prior to the U.S.-led attack on Iraq, 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people depended directly on a U.N.-backed oil-for-food program, which allowed proceeds from Iraq's oil to be used to buy food while the country was under international economic sanctions.

Aid agencies say falluja is big disaster { November 12 2004 } Aid plane prevented entering { April 17 2003 } Al monsour 4 7 03 airstrike [jpg] Americans made it worse { September 16 2003 } Baghdad hospitals running out supplies { April 8 2003 } Baghdad lacking water electricity and fuel Blair challenged to tally iraq war dead { December 8 2004 } Blair rules out iraq civilian death toll probe { December 8 2004 } Boy lost arms Children will pay the price { April 9 2003 } Cluster bombs dangle Conditions in iraq worse Conflict doulbing malnutrition for children Doctors medical supplies scarce in fallujah asault Envoy says troops withholding food and water in iraq { October 15 2005 } Hospitals running out supplies { April 9 2003 } Iraq humanitarian crisis { April 18 2003 } Iraqi killing fields Iraqi women turn to prostitution { June 24 2004 } Iraqs foul water conditions also kill { July 11 2005 } Jessica simpson shellshocked from iraq trip Jouralist interviews corpse { April 29 2003 } Lack of water electricity Mythical garden eden now wasteland Power outage still { April 17 2003 } Red cross suspended baghdad activities { April 9 2003 } Rush of patients hints at high civilian death toll { December 12 2004 } Scientists estimate 100 thousand iraqis died in war Sewage streets iraq { May 13 2003 } War torn nation still lacks basic services and jobs Files Listed: 30

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