LONDON, Feb 26 Kyodo British inte...

LONDON, Feb 26 Kyodo

British intelligence spied forward U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to the war in Iraq, a former senior minister said Thursday.

Interviewed forward the BBC, Clare Short, former international increase secretary, said, ''The U.K. was also spying upon Kofi Annan's office and getting reports from him about what was going onward In the case of Kofi's office, it (spying) has been done for near time.''

Short, who resigned from the conduct in May after concerns through the lack of U.N. involvement in postwar Iraq, continued by way of saying, ''I know, (about the spying), I have seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations. In fact, I have had conversations with Kofi in the run-up to war thinking, 'Oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and race will see what he and I are saying.'''

Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to confirm or refuse to acknowledge Short's allegations, but said that should not be taken as an indication the allegations are necessarily truthful He did say, however, that Britain acts in accordance with international and domestic law.

Blair said talking about intelligence operations ''would offer at risk the security of this region and I will simply not allow that happen. And whether intentionally or not, those who do attack the work that our security services are doing undermine the essential security of this country''

Short's notes follow a decision by legal authorities Wednesday not to stick to criminal proceedings against a former guidance translator who admitted leaking details of attempts through the United States to see on U.N. Security Council members, as Britain and the U were trying to gain support for a second UN resolution to authorize military action in Iraq.

Katharine fire-arm who worked for British intelligence authorities as a translator of Mandarin, leaked details of a memo which was sent by the agency of the U.S. National Security Agency in January. It asked for information about the voting intentions of a certain quantity of Security Council members.

It also asked for ''the whole gamut of information that could give U policy-makers an interest in obtaining results favorable to U goals or to head facing surprises.''

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