Iraq accuses US of undermining Annan's initiative

Iraq on Monday accused the US of working to thwart the initiative advocated by UN chief Kofi Annan to settle the crisis with the UN inspectors over dismantling banned Iraqi weapons.

The official spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Culture and Information said that the US provokes Iraq through attempting to prevent a comprehensive revision of what had been achieved so far in terms of Iraqi compliance with UN resolutions. He said the US is doing this especially after Annan proposed new comprehensive revisions of the sanctions and to review the amount of Iraqi compliance in the area of disarmament in order to push Baghdad forward to resume its cooperation with UNSCOM.

The spokesman added that Washington tries to portray the conflict arising between it and Iraq for eight years as being a dispute between Iraq and the UN while its objective are the perpetuating the sanctions imposed on Iraq.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the coordinator of the humanitarian affairs for the United Nations in Iraq announced today the arrival of the first shipment of medicine to Iraq within the fourth stage of the oil-for-food agreement.

He said the shipment comprises medicines and vitamins purchased within the fourth stage of the agreement, which started last June.

He said the medicines arrived today at the storehouses of the Iraqi Ministry of Health and that since the implementation of the oil-for-food program, medical supplies worth more than $350 million have arrived in Iraq.