The United Nations Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution to restart the 'oil-for-food' programme, which allows resumption of aid to Iraq.

Under the resolution, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be able to run the programme in Iraq for 45 days.

The programme will restart as soon as the security conditions permit the humanitarian workers to return to Iraq, Annan said.

The UN had pulled its workers out a day before the war began last week.

More than 60 per cent of Iraq's 22 million people depend entirely on the humanitarian programme run by the UN.

The UN also appealed for $2.2 billion to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the Iraqis.

The world body said the funds, which would include $1.3 billion in food aid, were needed to avert a humanitarian crisis over the next six months.

The 15-nation Security Council agreed on the wording of the draft resolution after a week of bitter negotiations.

Germany's Ambassador to the UN, Gunter Pleuger, who chaired the talks, called the programme "the biggest humanitarian assistance programme in the history of the UN".

He also thanked the members for the "spirit of compromise" that led to the resolution being adopted unanimously. "This is a signal to the people that they are not forgotten," he said.

US Ambassador John Negroponte said, "Today's vote will translate into concere results on the ground."

Jean Marc de la Sabliere, France's UN Ambassador, said, "On the basis of this humanitarian text, the Security Council has recovered its unity, and that is an important result as well."

The four-page resolution reaffirmed "the respect for the right of the people of Iraq to determine their own political future and to control their own natural resources".

It also noted that the "occupying power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population".

US President George W Bush welcomed the move, which his spokesman said underlined the international will to give humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.