WAR ON IRAK

Swissinfo: Iraq accuses U.S. and Britain of blocking relief

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has accused the United States and Britain of forcing the United Nations
to stop a vital relief programme, which allowed the country's 25 million people to receive food and
medicine in return for oil sales.

"We denounce this immoral and inhuman behaviour by the United States and Britain to block the
oil-for-food programme," Iraq's Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh told a news conference on Tuesday.

He said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had submitted to pressure from the United States and
Britain, who are launching a war against Iraq to oust President Saddam Hussein