Saudi Arabia: Iraq aid

Having repeatedly denied accusations it has been funding the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, Saudi Arabia announced on 1 July it was sending $500m in humanitarian aid to Iraqis. A statement on state news agency SPA quoted an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz had ordered the money to go to “the brotherly Iraqi people affected by tragic events, including displaced people, regardless of their religious, doctrinal or ethnic affiliations”. The money – which eclipses the $312m the United Nations (UN) recently appealed for – will be channelled through the UN.