Aid -- Now -- to Kurds

Saturday, October 12 1996; Page A28 The Washington Post

THE BULK of the suffering of the Iraqi people is the work of Saddam Hussein. His priority is power, and his own political choices have denied his citizens the major and sustained food-and-medicine-for-oil relief the United Nations has offered. In northern Iraq the situation is particularly dicey: Since the dictator's Kurdish power play last month, American, European and especially some Iraqi aid providers have been in real danger, and many have had to flee. Nonetheless, some channels of aid to Kurds and others in the north remain open. One of the main channels is UNICEF, which is scrupulously neutral politically and maintains a presence throughout Iraq. The U.N.'s child-support agency has its network on the ground and is in a position to deliver urgently needed supplies, in the north as well as the south, promptly.

This is the foundation on which businessman and philanthropist Abe Pollin is now appealing to the Washington community. Chairman of UN\I\CEF's local advisory council, he is taking out a $200,000 loan to cover projects that UNICEF has designated for Washington sponsorship. The loan is meant to be covered by private citizens and companies in Washington. The projects amount to a profile of Kurdish desperation: vaccination of children, therapeutic feeding for malnourished children, repair of water facilities in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, and supplies for looted and shelled schools.

The sum being sought is small. It provides no permanent solution to the misery and vulnerability of the Kurds, not to speak of Iraq's other citizens. But it is timely. UNICEF is seeking $10 million in 90-day emergency funding from member governments, but the returns are slow as members wait to see how the political winds blow. This little package can make an immediate difference to people caught in suspension between the homes they have lost and the havens they have not yet found and to people in distress in place. A contribution allows those whose sympathies were plucked by the Kurds' fate to make a concrete response. Contributions may go to the U.S. Committee for UNICEF through Mr. Pollin at USAir Arena, 1 Harry S. Truman Dr., Landover, Md. 20785.