Clark works out where NZ can help

By AUDREY YOUNG

New Zealand mine-clearing experts could be called on quickly to help in post-war Iraq, Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday.

She is still non-committal about whether they might work under United States command, rather than under the United Nations, which she initially wanted.

But she said New Zealand was looking for "appropriate multilateral cover".

Post-war Iraq will be high on the agenda of her talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair when she visits London in early May.

She said intense discussion was going on between capitals about the United Nations' role.

"Nothing is yet clear, not really clear enough even for the UN humanitarian agencies to be in there in a very big way at the moment because there are such significant security problems," she said.

"I would think that mine-clearance operations are probably likely to be one of the first to get the green light - and of course we are very ready to help with that and the expertise we have is acknowledged."

After the United States-United Kingdom summit last week, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw referred to the United Nations being involved in reconstruction and the establishment and processes of the interim Iraqi authority.



Asked if New Zealand would assist in the United States-led administration, she said the role of the United Nations was "fluid".

"That role is not yet defined. It is likely to stretch beyond humanitarian relief into reconstruction and then into supporting some transition into an interim Iraqi authority and on to a more permanent Iraqi administration.

"Along that continuum of developments there will be appropriate multilateral cover for those who haven't been involved in the conflict.

"It is a developing situation, and multilateral cover for different stages of the reconstruction of Iraq will evolve and our participation will evolve with it."

Act says New Zealand has relaxed its insistence on joining a United-Nations led recovery in Iraq as part of the apology to the United States for Helen Clark's suggesting the war would not have happened under Democrat Al Gore.

Before visiting London, Helen Clark will chair an OECD ministerial council meeting in Paris, where she will also meet French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

NZ and the war

* Support for the war in Iraq has jumped from 22 per cent in February to 44 per cent now, a TV3 NFO poll showed last night.

* Of the 1000 people polled last week, 64 per cent believed New Zealand should contribute military assistance (33 per cent against), 90 per cent believed New Zealand should contribute humanitarian aid (8 per cent against) and 52 per cent believe terrorism would increase as a result of the war (23 per cent decrease).

Herald Feature: Iraq war