Iraq's Agriculture Ministry on October 2 refuted US allegations that Iraq has distributed only 60 percent of its agricultural imports in the first four phases of the oil-for-food program.

　 An unnamed spokesman for the ministry said in a statement that 80 percent of the agricultural imports had been handed out while the other 20 percent are scheduled to be distributed according to the actual needs of the agricultural sector.

　 The spokesman added that the distribution figures had been audited by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO).

　 US Assistant State Secretary Martin Indyk alleged in a report recently Baghdad should be responsible for the sufferings of the Iraqi people because it only distributed 60 percent of its agricultural imports.

　 The Iraqi spokesman accused Washington of spreading lies and deliberately ignoring the aggressive attitudes of the US and British representatives at the UN 661 Sanctions Committee in impeding Iraq's agricultural contracts with foreign countries.

　 US and British envoys at the Sanctions Committee suspended 11 agricultural contracts in the fifth phase of the oil-for-food program and seven contracts in the sixth phase, he said.

　 He added that those blocked contracts include veterinary appliances, special generators for poultry incubators, special vehicles for transporting chickens, 7,000 tons of soybeans and 1,800 irrigation units.

　 Under the oil-for-food deal, Iraq is allowed to export limited amount of oil in every six months to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies for its 24 million people.

　 Baghdad has long accused the US and Britain of delaying or suspending the endorsement of its contracts, arguing that the humanitarian program has failed to alleviate the sufferings of the Iraqi people.

　 The spokesman also refuted another allegation made by Indyk that Iraqi government prevented growing rice in the country, saying that rice-growing areas reached 80 percent of the arable land in southern Iraq's top rice-growing provinces of Najaf and Qadissiya. (Xinhua)