ICRC grants $6M in drought relief for Iraq

GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva allocated $6 million in drought relief to Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, officials said Friday.

Silvana Mutti with the Middle East and North African division of the ICRC met in Geneva with a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government to discuss operations in the area through 2009, the KRG said in a statement.

Mutti said ICRC work in the areas in northwestern and eastern portions of Iraq along the Iranian border will witness significant reconstruction activity for drought relief beginning in March 2009.

The relief plan includes upgrades to water treatment facilities, new wells in the affected areas as well as food distribution to families impacted by the drought.

Red Cross officials also will work with women in the region and local non-profit groups in an effort to expand its presence in the area.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Service says Iraq is in the midst of one of the worst droughts in the past decade.

Wheat and barley production, for example, is expected to be down 51 percent in the current growing season compared to the previous year.