The telethon was ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people hit by the US-led war.

In an appeal carried by the Saudi Press Agency, King Fahd urged Saudis and expatriates to cooperate with the campaign to make it a success.

The fund will be used to meet the essential requirements of the Iraqi people who are in need of assistance, the statement said.

A national committee has been set up under the supervision of Interior Minister Prince Naif to provide assistance to the Iraqis.

The committee includes representatives from the Ministries of Defense and Aviation, Interior, Foreign and Information as well as the Saudi Red Crescent Society.

Prince Naif has authorized his adviser Dr. Saaed Al-Harithy, chairman of the committee, to collect funds and send them directly to the needy people of Iraq, the statement said.

King Fahd has already ordered an $80-million aid package for Iraq, and a first Saudi convoy of humanitarian and medical aid left for Baghdad on Monday.

The convoy included a field hospital with about 200 doctors, nurses and medical technicians, in addition to food and blankets.

Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, has given orders to provide medical care to the Iraqis wounded in the war. Initially, some 200 injured Iraqis will be flown in for treatment.

The Kingdom has held a number of telethons collecting tens of millions of dollars for Palestinians, Bosnians, Afghans and Chechens.

In a related development, more than 5,000 Iraqi refugees who have been living at a border camp in the Kingdom since the end of the 1991 Gulf War have expressed their desire to go back to their country.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said it was up to the UNHCR to repatriate them. “We will have discussions with the agency soon,” he told a press conference in Riyadh.

Mamoon Muhsen, external affairs officer of UNHCR’s Gulf regional office, said the refugee agency planned to repatriate the Iraqi refugees at the Rafha camp, “but before they return, the security situation should be suitable so no harm is done to them,” Muhsen said.

He said the repatriation of 5,233 Iraqi refugees at Rafha was part of a wider scheme to repatriate some 400,000 Iraqi refugees all over the world, half of them in Iran. But, he said, there was still no timetable for the process.