United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Wednesday expressed regret that his teams in Iraq had no more time to complete their work.

"I naturally feel sadness that three-and-a-half months of work carried out in Iraq have not brought the assurances needed about the absence of weapons of mass destruction... and that armed action now seems imminent," he said at a Security Council meeting just hours before the American deadline for President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq expired.

Blix said Iraq had provided some documents related to disarmament issues.

"Our experts have found so far that in substance only limited new information has been provided, which will help to resolve remaining questions," he said.

Blix appeared before the council to present his inspectors' work programme in Iraq.

General-Secretary Kofi Annan told the United States it would be its responsibility to ensure welfare of the Iraqis.

"Under International law, the responsibility for protecting civilians in conflict falls on the belligerents: in any area under military occupation... the welfare of the population falls on the occupying power," he said.

Regretting suspension of the inspection process and the failure of the council to reach a common position, he said the UN had done it best to assess the effects of war in terms of personnel and equipment and human needs.

Asking donors to respond with generosity and speed to the UN appeal for funds to help the Iraqis, Annan said the world body had requested $123.5 million a month ago, but only $45 million had been pledged and $34 million received.

"I'm afraid we shall very soon be coming back with an appeal for much larger sums to finance actual relief operations," he said.

Annan said the UN was also trying to adjust the 'oil for food' programme to continue providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq.

"Already, Iraq's most vulnerable citizens -- the elderly, women and children, and the disabled are denied the basic health care for lack of medicines and medical equipment.

"Already, nearly one million Iraqi children suffer from chronic malnutrition," he said.

Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, said his country "emphatically rejects the impending war" and added that "there is no basis in the UN Charter for a regime change with military means".

His French counterpart Dominique de Villepin echoed the sentiment, saying those who believed terrorism would be eradicated through war on Iraq "run the risk of failing in their objectives".