UN Humanitarian Institutions Anxious About Situation in Basra

The UN humanitarian institutions have expressed their concern over the situation in the city of Basra, southern Iraq. RIA Novosti learned this at the UN information centre in Moscow. The population of Basra, 1.7 million people, "have for four days had serious problems with potable water supplies".

"The situation in Basra is very alarming, critical, and we all have expressed our anxiety over the situation there, first of all with supplies of water, which is of a very poor quality," spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian co-ordinator office for Iraq Veronique Taveau pointed out.

The UNICEF representatives have also expressed their anxiety over the situation in Basra, as well as about children's sufferings in the war on the whole.

The World Health Organisation has already warned that "the shortage of pure potable water leads to an increased disease and death rate, first of all among children". According to the WHO, 60 per cent of the population in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, have no access to pure potable water.