BAGHDAD, March 18 (AFP) - 12h28 - The head of the United Nations oil-for-food
programme for Iraq is recruiting spies to work in parts of Iraqi Kurdistan, a newspaper
charged Sunday.

"(Benon) Sevan asked the Security Council during a debate on the
difficulties in the northern provinces to recruit foreigners," said Babel, run by President
Saddam  Hussein's eldest son Uday.

"But what Sevan omitted to say is that the foreigners that he wants to
recruit for his
programme are spies paid by the United States, Britain and the Zionist  entity and have
nothing to do with implementing his humanitarian programme."

The daily charged that UN personnel "do not distribute all the quota of  food" earmarked for
Kurdistan but "steal and sell (part of) it in league with the traitors".

The newspaper was referring to Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq who have  operated
independently of the Baghdad regime and under the protection of US air  power since the
Gulf War in 1991.

The United Nations in Baghdad could not be reached immediately for comment. Iraq
protested to the world body at the end of February over UN personnel  in Iraqi Kurdistan
and warned that Baghdad could take "necessary measures".

"The behaviour and actions of UN employees in northern Iraq constitute a flagrant violation
of the UN charter and rules on its activities in Iraq," said Foreign Minister Mohammad Said
al-Sahhaf.

Sahhaf said certain UN employees were not respecting the terms of the UN oil-for-food
programme which began at the end of 1996 to alleviate suffering caused by international
sanctions.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com