Americans protest over Iraq sanctions

Hundreds of people have demonstrated outside the White House in Washington to mark the tenth anniversary of the imposition of sanctions against Iraq.

They called on the United States, Britain and other Western powers to end the United Nations embargo, saying thousands of Iraqi children die every month from diseases and malnutrition resulting from it.

A group of Americans is also holding a three-day protest fast in front of the United Nations offices in Baghdad.

Washington has again rejected international criticism of the sanctions.

A State Department official Thomas Pickering reiterated the American view that President Saddam Hussein was responsible for the suffering of the Iraqi people. The sanctions were imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and have been continued in an effort to stop Iraq developing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service