Iraqi Minister of Commerce Mohammed Mahdi Saleh said in remarks published Wednesday that some 14,000 Iraqi children have died since the United Nations imposed sanctions on Baghdad for invading Kuwait.
"Fourteen thousand Iraqi children under the age of five have died so far because of the unjust sanctions imposed on Iraq," Saleh told the Jordanian daily Ad Dostour.The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq in August 1990 after Saddam Hussein failed to comply with resolutions calling for an Iraqi troop withdrawal from Kuwait.
Saleh also accused U.S.-led coalition troops of destroying wheat and meat storage facilities during the Persian Gulf war, creating hunger among the Iraqi people.
The Iraqi minister accused infiltrators entering Iraq from neighboring Iran of destroying homes during internal revolts in March against Saddam's regime.
Saleh's remarks coincided with reports from New York that U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar would ask the Security Council to allow Iraq to sell $2.4 billion worth of crude oil to meet the basic food and medical needs of its 18 million-strong population.