The United Nations food aid agency expressed optimism today that it could avert a major crisis in what it called its greatest challenge ever to feed the people of Iraq.
"We have enough supplies. We will be able to meet the needs," Mr James Morris, executive director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), told a news conference in London.
The WFP has appealed for €1.3 billion to fund a vast food aid operation in response to the Iraq war.
This is part of an overall €2.2 billion appeal for all humanitarian help for Iraq in the coming six months launched by the UN last week.
The WFP has bought some 84,000 tonnes of rice for foodaid for Iraq in the past week. The Rome-based agency has also purchased some 160,000 tonnes of wheat flour.
