TOKYO — A group of 14 countries that gave international agencies almost $1 billion to meet emergency needs in Iraq was told Thursday that only 5% of the money had been spent because the swirl of violence was blocking the start of badly needed projects.
Dispensing reconstruction money is at the heart of a dispute between Iraqi authorities, eager for a rebuilding boom, and the United Nations and World Bank, which are responsible for the projects and argue that the country is not safe enough to enter.
The delays are also frustrating for the Bush administration, eager to show it has economic allies to share the burden -- and benefits -- of rebuilding Iraq. And the trust fund to which the 14 countries contributed is the easiest way nations can give.
Donor nations meeting in Tokyo heard that the World Bank had only two projects underway in Iraq from the trust fund created by foreign governments.
Money earmarked for seven other World Bank-funded projects, including water system repairs and school reconstruction, had not been spent, largely because the insurgency in central Iraq and the rampant criminal violence in other parts of the country had kept most foreign aid workers and contractors out of the country, officials said.
"We identified security as the biggest challenge to overcome," said Japan's Akio Shirota, who chaired the two-day conference called to assess the state of Iraq's reconstruction programs.
There is no shortage of money to tackle Iraq's numerous needs. The Tokyo conference was originally planned as a technical meeting to assess how more than $32 billion in international aid pledged a year ago -- including $21 billion of U.S. taxpayer money -- was being handled.
Aside from the trust fund, other direct donations from countries and agencies to Iraq have totaled about $4.3 billion, of which $3 billion came from Washington. Much of that money, however, has been diverted to unexpected security costs, U.S. officials said. Protection costs are "trending upwards" and can consume between 10% and 20% of the cost of any reconstruction project, a senior U.S. official said Thursday in Tokyo.
The inability to spend available funds turned the Tokyo meeting from an accounting exercise into a political one. The interim Iraqi government sent a large and vocal delegation, which used the occasion to accuse the international community of being overly cautious about spending donors' money.
