More than 500 Jordanians carried millions of donated pencils to the border with Iraq yesterday in defiance of the UN trade sanctions against Baghdad.
The 3.5 million donated pencils, shipped without UN sanctions committee approval, were transported in two large trailers, accompanied by a convoy of more than 200 cars carrying sympathisers.
"Every pencil signifies a sign of refusal by one Jordanian of the illegal sanctions against Iraq," Ms Aida al-Dabbas, a leader of the National Mobilisation Committee of Solidarity with Iraq, said.
The delivery capped a nationwide pro-Iraq solidarity campaign by the umbrella group, which lobbied Jordanian companies and volunteer organisations to donate pencils.
Pencils are allowed into Iraq at times, but the UN classifies them as embargoed items because graphite used for pencils can also be used for military purposes, Jordanian trade officials say.
Jordanian activists have held successive campaigns to show their solidarity with ordinary Iraqis since the UN imposed trade embargoes after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Baghdad yesterday accused the United States and Britain of blocking purchases of crucial medical equipment allowed under the UN oil-for-food programme.
The Iraqi Health Minister, Mr Umeed Madhat Mubarak, said the US and Britain were behind the recent suspension of five contracts for spare parts for X-ray equipment and others for dental X-ray equipment.
"The weak obstacles and pretexts of the US and British representatives on Committee 661 basically aim to stop medical supplies arriving at health institutions," Mr Mubarak said, referring to the UN body that must approve contracts.
Mr Mubarak said last month that the sanctions had led to over 1.25 million deaths.