Turkey set to become key supplier for Iraqi aid

Eighteen UN World Food Programme (WFP) lorries carrying 360 tonnes of food headed for the town of Sulaymaniyah in the east of Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday.

Five trucks from the UN children’s agency UNICEF also crossed over from Turkey into northern Iraq via the Habur checkpoint on Tuesday, carrying hospital beds and water-purification equipment.

A first WFP had convoy entered northern Iraq from Turkey on Friday.

Meanwhile, UN sources in Ankara said Turkey looked set to become a major supplier of food aid to Iraq.

"Out of a monthly 100,000 tonnes of UN food aid to Iraq, Turkey could supply 30 percent," said a WFP spokesman.

The Turkish flour producers’ association told AFP it expected the WFP to buy 100,000 tonnes of flour for Iraq from Turkish sources.

It also said the WFP had already agreed to buy 35,000 tonnes of flour from Turkish producers since the outbreak of the war.