UNITED NATIONS, Sept 21: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan took a fresh jab at US President George Bush on Tuesday, in a clear sign that world opinion was still far from making peace with the occupation of Iraq.

Mr Annan opened this year's annual debate of world leaders at the United Nations by criticizing Mr Bush's plan to deliver democracy to Iraq through force in a pointed speech aimed at underlining the importance of the rule of law.

"Those who seek to bestow legitimacy must themselves embody it, and those who invoke international law must themselves submit to it," Mr Annan said in a speech that drew applause from the presidents and ministers on hand.

"In Iraq, we see civilians massacred in cold blood while relief workers, journalists and other non-combatants are taken hostage and put to death in the most barbarous fashion," he said.

"At the same time, we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused," he said, drawing a parallel between the Iraq bloodshed and the prisoner scandal in a way destined to irk Mr Bush.

Mr Annan has laboured for a year to heal the deep divisions over the war that brought down Saddam Hussein, and his wide-ranging address referred to the catastrophe in Sudan, the Middle East conflict and Russia's hostage tragedy.

But the UN chief, who just last week called the war "illegal," also dropped repeated hints about what he has called Mr Bush's unilateral decision to invade Iraq against the grain of international opinion.

"It is the law, including Security Council resolutions, which offers the best foundation for resolving prolonged conflicts - in the Middle East, in Iraq and around the world," he said.

"All states - strong and weak, big and small - need a framework of fair rules," the UN chief said. Mr Bush failed to win Security Council backing for the war and, if Mr Annan's criticisms were less blunt than those he offered last year, his position remained at odds with Mr Bush's defence of the war in the fight against terror.

"Never in the history of the United Nations have we faced so many opportunities to create a safer world by building a better world," the US president said on Saturday, in a preview of his own address.

"For the sake of our common security, and for the sake of our common values, the international community must rise to this historic moment. And the United States is prepared to lead," Mr Bush said.

PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS: Annan urged nations to sign treaties on the protection of civilians and to strengthen and implement disarmament pacts, some of which, like a nuclear test ban treaty, the Bush administration has disowned.