Short flies to United Nations with £70m aid pledge

The Government pledged an extra £70m of humanitarian assistance for Iraq yesterday as Clare Short, the Secretary of State for International Development, flew to New York for discussions with United Nations leaders about aid and reconstruction.

Mike O'Brien, the Foreign Office minister, who surprised MPs by answering International Development questions in Ms Short's absence, said the Government had been in talks with neighbouring countries, such as Iran, about opening their borders to Iraqi refugees.

He said £70m – including £60m from the Department for International Development's emergency reserve fund – had been set aside to help the civilian population after the conflict.

UN agencies and charities, including the Red Cross and World Food Programme, will be allocated £10m to buy food, shelter and medicines for refugees. The funds come on top of £30m of Ministry of Defence cash for humanitarian and human-rights priorities.

Charities criticised the fact that no new money had been allocated by the Treasury to help rebuild Iraq since the Government announced its intention to go to war. A spokesman for Save the Children said: "DfID are trying to spend the money as soon as they get it, but there is not a penny of new money from the Treasury and they need it."

Mr O'Brien said Britain was already speaking to members of the UN Security Council about a resolution on humanitarian aid and rebuilding Iraq after a conflict.

Clare Short flew to New York yesterday for a meeting with Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, and UN aid chiefs about the reconstruction of Iraq after a military strike.

Replying to concerns that American companies were in line to make huge profits from the post-war rebuilding of Iraq, Mr O'Brien said "many of these companies" would "subcontract up to 50 per cent" of the contracts.

Hugh Bayley, Labour MP for York, called on the Government to ensure that refugee camps had clean water and sanitation and to make sure refugees were immunised.

Labour MPs raised concerns that water supplies could be seriously affected by the military campaign, leading to disease and death among civilians. They cited a UN report on the Gulf War in 1991 which found that between 15,000 and 30,000 refugees died from infectious diseases such as typhoid, measles and cholera after water supplies were cut by the bombing campaign.

Mr O'Brien said immunisation programmes were "enormously important" and the Government would put in place medical facilities for Iraqi refugees.

He also said that he had spoken to ministers from Turkey, Syria and Iran about helping refugees who may try to flee across their borders.

But he added: "We don't anticipate that large numbers will cross the Turkish border. They are anxious not to have large numbers of people crossing their border."