President Saddam Hussein has given a defiant message to the West as Iraq celebrates the ninth anniversary of the start of the Gulf War over Kuwait.

He said in a televised speech the Iraqis would eventually emerge victorious over the United States, and urged them to endure United Nations sanctions by rationing essential supplies and working hard.

Earlier, demonstrators called for a halt to the frequent United States and British air strikes over air exclusion zones in southern and northern Iraq; they burnt a coffin draped with the American, British and Israeli flags outside United Nations offices in Baghdad. A delegation from humanitarian organisations is marking the anniversary by delivering aid worth two million dollars to hospitals and schools.

In London, the British navy announced it was sending an eleven-ship task force to the Gulf on what it called a routine training deployment to show its commitment to stability in the region.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service