The Iraqi Central Bank yesterday distributed to banks the new Iraqi dinar banknotes to replace the old banknotes, which, for 30 years, bore the image of the former dictator, Saddam Hussein.

Central bank officials announced that 250 local Iraqi banks would handle the replacement of the old currency with the new one.

The process, officials say, will take three months but the new currency will begin to appear in the market in less than two weeks.

The new banknotes bear images of Iraq's rich heritage such as Ibn al-Haitham, the first inventor of the camera, or images of daily life, such as an Iraqi farmer.

Saddam is not on the notes.

Vice President of the Central Bank, Ahmad Salman, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the currency had been designed to avoid counterfeit.

"We have printed sufficient quantity of the new currency to meet circulation demands for the next two years," Salman said.

Officials also said the Central Bank has established two branches in Suleimaniah and Erbil in northern Iraq to facilitate the replacement process.

Coalition forces in Baghdad are providing heavy security for trucks carrying the new currency to banks all over the country.

Only in the Kurdish regions of Northern Iraq are the banknotes being transported by American cargo planes.

Rafideen Bank, which has the largest branch network, announced an increase of two working hours a day from October 15 to help speed the exchange process.

The Iraqi Al-Sabah newspaper on Sunday dedicated its back page to pictures of the new currency, describing it as "100% Iraqi", for its depiction of historic Iraqi symbols.

"We are extremely excited about handling the new currency after we renounced the past with all its images and symbols," said Ibrahim Adnan, owner of a currency exchange shop in Baghdad.

Hamid Said, a 43-year-old Iraqi said: "I hope the new currency will put an end to all the counterfeiting of the previous currency for the past 13 years". – Sapa-DPA.