In a dramatic ending to the two-day debate at the UN Security Council on the US-led attack against Iraq, America's UN Ambassador John Negroponte along with his delegation stormed out of the chamber after Iraqi envoy Mohammed Aldouri accused Washington and London of trying to "exterminate" the people of his country.

"I did sit through quite a long part of what he (Aldouri) had to say but I think I'd heard enough after a certain amount of time," an angry Negroponte told reporters on Thursday night.

"I did not hear anything new in what he had to say and of course [I] can't accept any of the preposterous allegation he put forward," the American ambassador said.

Walkouts are rare in the Security Council, though sometimes ambassadors do send their deputies or juniors to attend the meeting to send across a message.
 
Negroponte's walkout came after he sat through hours of debate, listening to several ambassadors describing American-led action as illegal, unjustified and aimed at controlling its oil wealth.
 
Aldouri, who had spoken on Wednesday, requested floor at the end of the debate to reply to the statements made
by various member nations.

The United States and Britain, he said, are about to start a "war of extermination against the Iraqi people."

Aldouri said he believed that it was a British plan to take control of Iraqi resources by "misguiding others" because "they (the British) are known for their trickery."

"They kill a person and then they shed crocodile tears and then they go to his funeral," he said.

With televisions outside showing bombing of Baghdad, Aldouri's anger was visible as he replied to the debate and thanked the majority which called for ending the war.
 
Those who supported the military action, he asserted, were not expressing the views of their own people. "The United
States' carrot-and-stick policy had been used to intimidate" them, he charged.

Aldouri said he sympathised with those who had supported the United States, adding they would get "no part of the cake" if Iraq fell.