Iraqi children and Dennis Halliday are winners of Morocco north-south cooperation prize

Morocco's 1999 north-south cooperation prize was awarded to the Iraqi children and to Dennis Halliday, former coordinator of the United Nations Humanitarian effort in Iraq.

Organizers said the prize awarded to the Iraqi children symbolizes the sympathy of the world with 500,000 dead Iraqi children.

The prize was set up in 1991 by Moroccan intellectual Medhi El Mandjra following the publication of his book "The First Civilizational War." The recipients are announced on January 17, the date when the US-led alliance against Iraq started raiding Iraq in 1991.

UN's Dennis Halliday for has part has been an outspoken critic of the policy pursued by the US against Iraq for what he characterized as the severe damage it has done to the country at every level of social development.