Aid agencies hope to get in as security 'settles down'

Irish aid agencies are hoping to get into Iraq in the next week or as soon as the security situation "settles down".

A team from Goal expects to be among the first in. It hopes to move from Kuwait City to the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah to assess the immediate humanitarian needs.

Dr Mary McLoughlin, one of three Goal staff in Kuwait, said briefings had "given us reason to believe that the paramilitary activity will cease very quickly". The first priorities would be the provision of potable water as well as the restoration of power to hospitals.

Concern, which also has staff in Kuwait, is awaiting security clearance. It hopes to resume work in the northern Kurdish parts of the country.

Concern has also been asked by the UN International Organisation for Migrants - which caters for internally displaced people - to co-ordinate programmes in the Salahadin region, which has a population of about a million people.

A spokesman has said he could not see Concern staff getting access to the country within the next week, however. "The situation is still too chaotic and there is no point going in if we cannot be sure the work we do is going to be consistent." Trócaire, with staff in Jordan, expects to send in four trucks of food and medical supplies for up to 35,000 people in the next week. In Amman, Ms Caroline Lynch said Trócaire, working with Caritas Iraq, had 14 centres in the country. She expected the first needs to be addressed would be "water and sanitation".

Unicef is currently bringing aid into northern Iraq, but has expressed its concern that looting could cause its networks in the country to "collapse".