Iraq Rejects Int'l Aid, Asking UN to Resume Oil-for-food Program

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Iraq Rejects Int'l Aid, Asking UN to Resume Oil-for-food Program

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Salah on Tuesday rejected any humanitarian assistance for the international community and asked the United Nations to resume the oil-for-food program.

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Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammad Mehdi Salah on Tuesday rejected any humanitarian assistance for the international community and asked the United Nations to resume the oil-for-food program.

Speaking at a press conference, he said: "the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has taken a strange decision to suspend the oil-for-food program and he is in violation of Security Council Resolution 986."

Of the total sum in the account, 8.3 billion US dollars are allocated for food and medicine, he said. Some shipments under theoil-for-food program are stored in Al-Rushid, Jordan, not far from the border with Iraq.

"We plead with Jordan to act responsibly and provide us with these stuffs stored on its land," Saleh said.

"All these shipments have been contracted according to the oil-for-food agreement, but (US President) Bush and (British Prime Minister) Blair decided to prevent the Iraqi people from food and medicine," he said.

He said that the oil-for-food program under the supervision of the United Nations should be restarted immediately.

"Nevertheless, Iraq can do for the coming six months without anybody's help. We stored food and medicine in anticipation of anywar," he declared.

"We have distributed food and medicine for citizens ample for the coming six months, and we don't need any financial assistance from anybody as we have 21 billion US dollars," said the minister.

The Iraqi official also criticized UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for succumbing to Bush and Blair pressures, and withdrawing UN inspectors and observers from the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.

"We ask the UN if it is an organization concerned with peace and security to release the shipments denied access to Iraq," he demanded.

"US troops have bombed a flour mill in Iraq's southern city of Basra and the mill is still on a blaze," Saleh said, adding that "America targeted this mill and others to starve the Iraqis."

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