Briefing foreign journalists in London, she said it was "absolutely essential" to get the United Nations' oil-for-food programme up and running as soon as possible.

"You have to get it up and running before the people of Iraq decide how they want to rebuild their economy," Short said shortly before British Prime Minister Tony Blair met his German counterpart Gerhard Schroeder in Hanover to discuss Iraq's reconstruction.

While Britain has been the United States' main ally in the war, Germany joined France and Russia in steadfastly opposing the conflict.

Following his talks with Schroeder, Blair said Britain and Germany agreed that the United Nations should play a "key role" in Iraq's reconstruction.

Short said it was "very important" that the international community "reunites in order to support the people of Iraq in their immediate needs and to help them build a better country for themselves."

"It is very important to get everyone back together ... It think it's a duty of humanity to reunite around that endeavour," she said.

Two months of food supplies had been handed out to Iraqis before the conflict began on March 20, Short said, pointing out that by the end of April many people would be short of food.

"It's absolutely essential to get the oil-for-food programme up and running again by then," she said.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late March to allow the resumption of humanitarian aid for Iraq through its oil-for-food programme on which an estimated 60 percent of Iraq's population of 22 million is dependent for daily supplies.

Short, who had threatened to resign as minister over Britain going to war without a UN mandate, acknowledged that the situation on the ground in Iraq "is very bad," adding that there was so much disorder, including looting, on the streets because the coalition was not prepared for the rapid collapse of President Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We should have done better," she said. "And the only way to put that right is to be better now."

"The humanitarian situation is serious because of disorder in all the major cities. There are a lot of people who do not have water, power... The coalition are concentrating on getting order and this is the most urgent question -- a very serious and urgent question across the country."

SPACE.WIRE