The Iraqi government, at a meeting chaired by President Saddam Hussein, agreed Monday to donate $94 million to impoverished Americans, said the official Iraqi News Agency.

“The Cabinet decided, on humanitarian grounds, to allocate 100 million euros [about $94 million] to be distributed to poor Americans,” INA said.

The news agency said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be notified of the donation.

It said 30 million people are living below the poverty line in the United States, Iraq’s sworn enemy.


Iraq is under a U.N. humanitarian aid program to relieve its population from the effects of economic sanctions imposed after the country’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.