18 Apr 2003 14:09:50 GMT Aid group and U.S. clash over Iraq relief plane
LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - The United States is ignoring the plight of children in northern Iraq by refusing to allow a plane full of medical supplies to land in the city of Arbil, a British aid agency said on Friday.
Save the Children disputed the U.S. line that it was unsafe to land at Arbil, saying the city, between Mosul and Kirkuk, was "as safe as many parts of London".
"I can only guess that is because they have other priorities because the suggestion that it is not safe is very difficult to accept," Save the Children representative Brendan Paddy told BBC Radio from Arbil.
"Medical supplies have to come in from the outside and at the moment that doesn't seem to be happening."
He said American flights were entering the area every day.
A U.S. military spokesman told the BBC from the Gulf that while the area around Arbil was safe for military planes, which could defend themselves, civilian planes might be in danger.
He said he hoped the Save the Children plane could land "within days".
The plane is ready to leave an airfield in Britain with enough medical supplies to help 40,000 people for three months.
Iraqi hospitals -- especially those in Mosul, which have been seriously affected by fighting and widespread looting following the collapse of the Iraqi regime -- lack essential medical and food supplies.
Save the Children accused the United States on Thursday of breaching the Geneva Convention by failing to open up access for aid. Under the convention, occupying forces are obliged to protect civilians, restore law and order and facilitate humanitarian relief.
"What is more difficult to understand is not the ignoring of the Geneva Convention but ignoring the plight of the kids that we're seeing every day in Mosul," Paddy said.
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