The head of an international NGO on Friday urged the government to understand that a war on Iraq would trigger a major humanitarian disaster.

In an interview with The Japan Times, Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, a British-based nongovernmental organization, said he hopes to convince Japan to stop supporting a U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

"We are not happy that the Japanese government is using aid programs to put pressure on U.S. Security Council members," he said. "Aid is something to be used for poverty reduction.