'Saddam never shopped for uranium in my country'

In his first interview since the row erupted over Britain and America's alleged distortion of the "case for war" in Iraq, Hama Hamadou accused London and Washington of mistreating an ally, given that Niger sent 500 troops to fight against Saddam in the 1991 Gulf war.

"Is this how Britain and America treat their allies?" asked Mr Hamadou. "If Britain has evidence to support its claim then it has only to produce it for everybody to see. Our conscience is clear. We are innocent."

America has admitted that its original claim that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium from Niger as part of his nuclear weapons programme was based on forged intelligence documents.

Britain, however, insists that it has intelligence from "independent sources" to support it - a claim repeated by Tony Blair when he visited Washington earlier this month to address a joint meeting of Congress.

Speaking in his large office in the capital, Niamey, the Mr Hamadou said that Niger had never had diplomatic or any bilateral relations with Iraq. "Officials from the two countries have never met to discuss uranium.

"We were the first African country to send soldiers to fight against Saddam after the invasion of Kuwait in 1991," he added. "Would we really send material to somebody whom we had fought against and who could could destroy half the world with a nuclear bomb? It is unthinkable."

Mr Hamadou said his government had received no formal accusation of any involvement in uranium deals with Saddam from either Britain or America. The origins of the row over forged documents lay in a battle for public opinion in Britain and the United States, he added.

"We cannot get involved in the politics of the world's most powerful nations. We are a poor country. Our uranium is tightly controlled and our priorities are to produce enough food to feed our people and provide education for all of our children."

He did not believe the allegations would damage his country's image. "Everybody knows that the claims are untrue," he said. "We have survived famine in Niger. We can survive this."




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