Region faces 'enormous challenge' in recovering from Gulf War.

• Position: Persian Gulf

The region affected by the Persian Gulf crisis "continues to face an enormous challenge in its attempt to recover from the ravages of war", a new UN report states.

The 59-page document, released on 15 July, was prepared by a mission headed by Sadruddin Aga Khan, the Secretary-General's Executive Delegate for the UN Inter-AGency Humanitarian Programme for Iraq, Kuwait and the Iraq/Iran and Iraq/Turkey border areas. The mission visited Iraq from 29 June to 13 July.

The military action to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty was carried out by a coalition of nations against Iraq from 16 January to 28 February. The Security Council had authorized the use of "all necessary means" to uphold and implement its resolutions aimed at ending Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and "to restore international peace and security in the area".

The mission reported (S/22799) that the "tragic consequences of conflict, the untold loss of life and destruction were compounded by massive displacements of ill-prepared populations, by ecological disasters of unprecedented magnitude, by the collapse of the structures that sustain life in today's human societies". The effect on Iraq was "leading to the gradual but inexorable collapse of essential services" and to the "risk of a humanitarian crisis whose eventual dimensions would dwarf today's difficulties".

Sadruddin Aga Khan said the mission was "neither crying wolf nor playing politics". But it was evident that for large numbers of Iraqi people, "every passing month brings them closer to the brink of calamity. As usual, it is the poor, the children, the widowed and the elderly, the most vulnerable amongst the population, who are the first to suffer."

Internal conflicts had also led to displacement in March and April of an estimated 400,000 persons to the Turkish border and approximately 1.2 million towards and into Iran.

The impact of economic and financial sanctions imposed on Iraq was "very substantial" on both its economy and the living conditions of civilians, it was reported. The las food reserves were being exhausted.

An estimated 2.5 million Iraqis had no access to the government water supply system. There were growing threats to health and environment. The single most critical health-care problem in Iraq was reported to be a high incidence of severe malnutrition and chronic diarrhoea in children under fivve years. There were also outbreaks of typhoid, hepatitis, meningitis, cholera and polio, as well as critical shortages...