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Saddam offers $95 million to America's poor

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has decided to offer $95 million to the poor of the United States, Iraq's official news agency INA reported.

An Iraqi cabinet meeting chaired by Saddam "decided to allocate the sum of 100 million euros ($95 million) for Americans living under the poverty line," INA said.

The government estimated the poor of the United States numbered "more than 30 million, most of them black Americans" and said that an Iraqi committee would be formed to supervise the aid distribution.

"UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will be informed of this decision," INA said.

The United Nations controls the oil revenues of Iraq, which has been under embargo since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait. A US-led military coalition evicted Iraqi occupation forces from the emirate in the 1991 Gulf War.

Iraq, an arch enemy of the United States, has also offered the Palestinians as much as 1 billion euros ($950 million) in revenues from its UN-authorised oil exports.

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