BAGHDAD, February 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
has decided to allocate a total of 120 million Iraqi dinars (about
60,000 U.S. dollars) to the poor families in the Iraqi capital, an
Iraqi official announced on Saturday.
   Aziz Saleh Numan, member of Iraq's ruling Arab Baath Socialist
Party, told the state-run Iraq TV that the move comes ahead of the
annual Greater Bairam, the most important festival in Arab
countries.
   The Greater Bairam will start from February 22 in Iraq and is
expected to last for four days.
   The Iraqi government distributed the same amount of money to the
poor families in Baghdad during the Lesser Bairam (Festival of
Fast-breaking), which fell in December last year.
   Long years of international sanctions, imposed on Iraq for its
1990 invasion of Kuwait, have dilapidated the once-affluent country
and caused millions of Iraqis live in poverty.  Enditem