The Iraqi Government has cut children's milk rations by a third, blaming the United States and Britain for the move.

"The United States is giving the Iraqi children a present for the new year," a Ministry of Trade spokesman said, reading from a statement on Iraqi television.

"It is a reduction in their ration of baby milk, which was purchased with Iraqi money.

"Iraq is supposed to be one of the world's richest countries and yet its children, women and elderly are being deprived of using their own money to provide for their needs of food and medicine upon a US decision that is backed by Britain."

The Iraqi Trade Minister: blames the US for children's deaths

Individuals' tea and detergent rations are also to be reduced from January, the statement said.

It added: "The US administration, backed by the United Kingdom, is striving to punish the children of Iraq as part of its punishment of the Iraqi people.

"It does so not only by perpetuating the embargo, but also by obstructing the implementation of contracts to buy food, medicine and other basic humanitarian needs.

Under the oil-for-food deal agreed with the United Nations, goods such as baby milk can be sold to Iraq without violating the sanctions imposed after the Gulf War.

The Trade Ministry said the United States, supported by Britain, was blocking the delivery of supplies ratified by the UN sanctions committee in September.

This meant milk rations would go down from 2.7kg (six pounds) a month this year to1.8kg (four pounds) in January, it said.

A spokesman for the US President Bill Clinton denied the Iraqi Ministry's claims.

"We do everything we can to make sure the Iraqi people get the humanitarian assistance they need," he said.

"Generally, problems we have had with that programme have been because of Iraqi intransigence."

The UN children's fund Unicef, estimates around a million Iraqi children suffer chronic malnutrition caused by the sanctions, which were imposed following the country's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The UN and Iraq disagree on who is to blame for the cut

The oil-for-food programme allows Iraq to sell $2bn (£1.2bn) of oil every six months to spend the money on food and medicine.

The second phase of the oil-for-food programme ended in December and was renewed by the UN Security Council for another six months.

The Iraqi Trade Minister, Mohammad Mahdi Saleh, said: "Iraq received only 15% of humanitarian goods during the second phase."

He added: "They [Americans] are responsible for the deaths of Iraqi children. It is a plan designed to kill more Iraqis."
 

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