BAGHDAD, Feb 26 (AFP) Iraq protested to the United Nations on Monday over the
 actions of 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," Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf
 charged in a message to UN chief Kofi Annan.

 Northern Iraq has been under the control of Kurdish factions in defiance of Baghdad since the
 aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.

 Sahhaf, who on Monday started talks with Annan in New York, said in the message carried by
 the official news agency INA that "certain (UN) employees" were not respecting the terms of the
 UN oil-for-food programme.

 The office of the UN's Iraq programme had send a memorandum to the UN humanitarian aid
 coordinator in Baghdad containing a letter from Kurdish "rebel" leader Jalal Talabani, Sahhaf
 cited as an example.

 Talabani's letter had been addressed to last September's UN millennium summit.

 Sahhaf also complained over an internal memo of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
 which operates in northern Iraq that referred to letters of political support from US vice president
 Al Gore to Talabani.

 Paragraphs 3 and 23 of the humanitarian accord forbid any actions which "damage the
 sovereignty of Iraq, its territorial integrity and regional security," said Sahhah, urging UN staff to
 respect the terms.

 Otherwise, he warned, Iraq would "take the necessary measures, provided under international
 law, against international staffers who engage in activities that serve the interests of certain
 parties while exploiting the United Nations."

 Sahhaf did not elaborate on what measures Iraq could take.
***********************
The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com