Truck convoy reaches Baghdad
The first postwar convoy of U.N. food aid reached Baghdad Saturday, opening an aid corridor from Jordan that U.N. officials say should keep the capital supplied when stocks run low in coming weeks.
The 50-truck convoy is chartered by the World Food Program (WFP) from private Jordanian firms and carried 1,400 tons of wheat flour. Officials said the flour would be distributed early next month, when food is expected to become increasingly scarce.
"The arrival of the convoy might allow the opening of a well-functioning food aid corridor that opens a major food lifeline into Iraq, bringing food that would replenish the stock that WFP assumes could be running out as soon as early May," WFP spokesman Maarten Roest told Reuters.
Convoy leader Adnan Dugum said the trucks had been held up for two days at Ramadi, 55 miles west of Baghdad, because no suitable warehouse was available in the capital.