"More and more are expended on military, which puts burdens on the fighting against poverty," she said in an interview with the Deutsche Presse Agentur.

The additional budget of 75 billion US dollars approved by the US Congress for the current Iraq war, was one and a half times as much as the global official development aid per year, she pointed out.

The war in Iraq doesn't make other regions in the world safer, but more insecure, she continued.

The Afghan government has also expressed such fears, given the fact that there are always attacks there, said Wieczorek-Zeul. "This is dangerous," she said.

This was also a reason why the German government has opposed the current war, said the minister.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2003)