Human shields stay in Baghdad for now

A former Napier man acting as a human shield in Baghdad is staying put for now, despite restrictions and safety fears that have caused up to a dozen members of the anti-war campaign to leave Iraq.

Christiaan Briggs, 26, arrived in the Iraqi capital last month with a group of anti-war campaigners aboard two double-decker buses.

Mr Briggs, who is a spokesman for the group, told a British newspaper nine of the Britons in the original convoy had begun the gruelling 5000km return journey in the London buses.

Despite the impending attack, more than 200 protesters from the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action Group remained.

But Mr Briggs said the Iraqi authorities had begun limiting the sites human shields could "protect". They had originally planned to base themselves at schools and hospitals.

"Now we are being told we cannot go to certain sites, such as hospitals, so we are reassessing our strategy," he said.

Mr Briggs' father, John Briggs, of Napier, said he phoned or emailed his son every second day, but had been unable to contact him for the past five days.

In his last brief email from a Baghdad internet cafe, Mr Briggs said he intended to be in London for the birth of his sister's baby, due on April 5.

"That will be a relief for us," his father said.

Earlier, Mr Briggs said he would stay in Baghdad even if war broke out.

Campaigners staying on could now act as witnesses rather than human shields, he said.

"I said right from the start, I was prepared to die - but only when I knew I had a chance of effecting change," he said.

Those who had left had run out of money or feared for their safety after the authorities began dictating which sites they could shield.

"I must stress the people on the bus were always intending on going back.

"The aim was always a mass migration and if we had had 5000 to 10,000 people here there would never be a war.

"We do not have those numbers and a lot of people were always intending to go back before the bombing campaign started," Mr Briggs said.

Also still in Iraq is former US Marine and Gulf War veteran Ken Nichols O'Keefe, who is one of the main co-ordinators of the protest.

US officials say using civilians as human shields is a war crime and there is no way of guaranteeing their safety.

Mahia kaumatua Pauline Tangiora returned from Iraq a fortnight ago after a visit in support of the country's women and children.

She called on the New Zealand Government to take a stronger stand against war and urged a ban on depleted uranium weapons, which she said had led to increased cancer rates since the last Gulf War.

- NZPA