The trial of the Iraqi former president Saddam Hussein and six of his aides on charges of genocide against Kurds in 1980s resumed yesterday, during which the deposed Iraqi leader accused the witnesses of sowing division among Iraqis.

The session, which the 16th one of Saddam trial, began with attendance of Saddam and the six codefendants believed to be involved in the Anfal (Spoils of War) military campaign, which the chief prosecutor said left some 182,000 people dead or missing.

The trial began with a Kurdish witness, Muttalib Muhammad Sulaiman, who made his compliant against Saddam, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid and Hajaj.

Sulaiman told the court that 33 people, including his families and relatives, disappeared in the 1988 Iraqi army attacks on his village in northern Iraq. "I want Saddam to tell where they are," he said.

The remains of Sulaiman's wife and two other relatives were found after Saddam's regime was toppled in 2003 in a mass grave in Hatra area south of Musol City, some 400 km north of Baghdad.

The man, 78, said he had been detained in the Nugrat al-Salman prison in Iraq's southwestern desert for six months before Saddam issued an amnesty. The conditions in the prison were very bad and many people died from malnutrition and torture by an official named Hajaj.

A second witness, Omer Hassan Omer, 71, said that 24 of his relatives as well as his family members were disappeared.

"Eighteen people died in the Nugrat al-Salman prison after they drunk water," Omer said. But he said he could not be sure of the cause of their death, saying that "as I am under oath I can't say I am positive that their death was because of water."

He made his complaints against Saddam, Ali Hasan al-Majid and all those responsible for Operation Anfal, and claimed compensation for the damages he suffered.

Saddam addressed the court after the two witnesses' testimony, during which he accused them of sowing division among Iraqi people to serve the interests of the Israeli people.

"This will only serve the division among Iraqis, and the Zionists are the only ones who will benefit from the differences among our people," Saddam said.

On Monday, Saddam Hussein issued an open letter to Iraqi people, calling on them to end sectarian killings and claiming that Iraq's "liberation is at hand."

"I call on you to be tolerant with those who lost the right path," Saddam said.

"The door for forgiveness must be open to everyone until the hour of liberation, which is now at hand, God willing," he said in his letter.

The third witness, Baba Abdulah, said he himself and his families had been detained in Nugrat al-Salman prison, and that his 25-day-old son had died as a result of hunger and malnutrition in the prison.

He made his complaints against Saddam, Ali Hassan al-Majid and all who participated in the Operation Anfal.

The court then adjourned the session until Wednesday after the testimony of the fourth witness.

Saddam is also awaiting a possible death sentence verdict for a separate case involving killing of some 148 Shiites. All the main charges in Anfal carry death penalty.