World donors inject $1 billion into Iraq fund

World donors have made good on pledges to inject about $1 billion of the $33 billion of aid earmarked for Iraq's rebuilding into trust funds run by the United Nations and World Bank, the country's planning minister said on Saturday.
Mehdi al-Hafedh told reporters ahead of a World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan that donors would assess the flow of aid and make more pledges at a May 25-26 meeting in Doha.
"We now have in the range of more than $1 billion now and I expect more to come," Hafedh said. "This is money deposited in the (trust) funds."
The funds have come in despite escalating violence in Iraq that has seen scores of foreign civilian contractors involved in the reconstruction process slain or kidnapped, Hafedh said.
"There are problems, no doubt, and this will continue as a concern to us. Without security and stability in the country it will be difficult for us to proceed," said Hafedh, charged with overseeing relations with donors.
Several countries that opposed the US-led war to oust President Saddam Hussein, including France and Germany, refused to contribute any aid to Baghdad if the United States and Britain - who currently occupy Iraq - control the funds.
They said they preferred to give aid directly to Iraq or contribute to trust funds run and audited independently, while Washington has been injecting its billions of reconstruction money directly into Iraqi projects.
Hafedh had outlined $4 billion of projects for donor consideration at a February meeting in Abu Dhabi to activate aid pledges made at a September donors' summit in Madrid.
At the time, the United States said it would have committed $10 billion of the $18.6 billion it has earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction by mid-year. Other donors said they would funnel $1 billion of the aid they had pledged in Madrid to the trust funds.
The flow of aid and commitments to specific projects should pick up once Iraqis take over power from US and British occupiers on July 1, Hafedh said.
"Many obstacles will be removed particularly with regards to international recognition of the country," Hafedh said.