By Barbara Plett in Amman

A second UN humanitarian agency chief in Iraq has resigned to protest against the failure of the organisation's relief programmes.

The head of the World Food Programme, Jutta Burghardt, has given notice that she is leaving her post.

The announcement of her resignation came just days after the UN's top humanitarian official, Hans Von Sponeck, did the same.

Senior UN aid workers have strongly criticised UN economic sanctions, saying they are causing severe damage to civilians in Iraq.

The embargo was imposed after the Gulf War to punish Iraq for invading Kuwait and force it to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction.

Lost hope

A UN spokesman confirmed that Jutta Burghardt wrote her letter of resignation several days ago.

The spokesman said she had decided to step down because of concerns similar to the ones expressed by Mr Von Sponeck.

Mr Von Sponeck said he resigned because he had lost hope that conditions would improve for Iraqi civilians.

He told an Arab satellite station that the latest Security Council resolution covering the UN's humanitarian programmes was unworkable and wouldn't ease the human tragedy in Iraq.

The resolution was passed in December.

Growing frustration

It offers Iraq a suspension of sanctions in return for full co-operation with a new arms control group.

Many of the details have been left vague, suggesting that each step will face deadlock in the divided Security Council.

Iraq has condemned, but not formally rejected, the resolution.

Western diplomats in Baghdad say frustration is growing amongst senior UN humanitarian staff, who feel that 10 years of sanctions have taken a tremendous toll on civilians.

Disarmament

They are beginning to ask that civilian concerns should be separated from the debate over disarmament.

Mr Von Sponeck has dismissed strong criticism from US officials, who say he has bought into the propaganda of the Iraqi government.

He said on Monday that his views are widely shared by his colleagues, and that conditions had reached a point where it was no longer acceptable to keep his mouth shut.

The media in some Arab countries have meanwhile continued to criticise the UN sanctions.

Newspapers in the United Emirates and in Qatar said the resignations were proof of what they called the human tragedy in Iraq.