| The British Royal Navy said Iraq's only deep-water port of Umm Qasr would receive its first merchant ship carrying humanitarian aid on Saturday. A ship carrying 700 tonnes of foodstuff will go in in the next couple of days, Steve Tatham, a Royal Navy spokesman based in Bahrain, said. He said the shipment would be quickly followed by two Australian-flagged vessels carrying some 28,000 tonnes of wheat. The port has been closed to merchant shipping while coalition forces cleared mines from the approaches to the port. He said more merchant vessels carrying large cargoes of aid would follow in quick succession. |