Eight Truckloads Of Food Arrive In Iraq In Oil-For-Food Swap

The first truckloads of food bought under the U.N. oil-for-food deal have arrived in Iraq, three months after the agreement went into effect, U.N. officials said Thursday.

Eight trucks carrying 17-1/2 tons of chickpeas and 120 tons of vegetable oil crossed Wednesday into Zakhu in northern Iraq from Turkey, said U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki. The shipments were part of contracts for 2,200 tons of chickpeas and 11,000 tons of vegetable oil.

Iraq resumed oil sales on Dec. 10 as part of the agreement to let it sell up to $2 billion in oil for an initial six-month period to buy badly needed food and medicine.

The agreement came in response to deteriorating health and economic conditions in Iraq following the U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the Persian Gulf War.

The truckloads of food were headed to a distribution site in central Iraq, where they would be handed out “as soon as practical arrangements are completed,” said U.N. spokesman Juan-Carlos Brandt. He said he did not know how long that would take.

A shipment of rice from Thailand is expected Sunday at the southern Iraqi port of Basra, Brandt said.