NZ sends mine experts to Iraq

By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter

A team of more than 20 New Zealanders is going to Iraq to help in the post-war cleanup by clearing landmines, setting up medical programmes and rebuilding sanitation services.

The Government confirmed yesterday that three New Zealand Defence Force personnel would go to Iraq in the next fortnight to work on a UN de-mining programme.

A further 12 specialist mine-clearers will leave when they are called up by the UN.

They will carry out emergency assessments of mine-infested areas and train Iraqis to destroy landmines and unexploded bombs, some of which date back to previous wars.

The Herald has also learned that the Red Cross is preparing to send up to eight New Zealand nurses, water supply, sanitation and logistics experts to Iraq. They will set up medical programmes and repair damaged public utilities.

New Zealand Red Cross operations manager Andrew McKie was last night discussing with the agency's head office in Geneva details of the team's make-up and where it would be based.

Mr McKie said the volunteers would join two New Zealand Red Cross medical workers already in Baghdad and the northern city of Arbil.

It was likely they would spend up to three months in Iraq.

He said New Zealand aid workers were welcomed by agencies which could not accept volunteers from Australia, the United States and Britain because of the volatile political situation in Iraq.

"Having the warring parties involved could impinge on the neutrality the Red Cross maintains."

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said New Zealanders were seen as impartial because they had not been involved in the war.

The New Zealand Red Cross team will be financed by a $1 million Government grant, announced last week.

The taxpayer will also pick up some of the bill for the mine-clearers, although the UN will cover their travel and accommodation.

Opposition parties have criticised the Government for not joining the coalition forces in the Iraq war.

National's foreign affairs spokesman, Wayne Mapp, said yesterday's offer of help was too little, too late.

"While the mine-clearers will obviously perform a valuable task, New Zealand could have done a lot more as part of the coalition of the willing."

New Zealand should have offered peacekeepers, military engineers and a medical team, he said.

The Government has maintained that military action should have been UN-mandated and not undertaken until all diplomatic efforts had failed.

Mr Goff said the decision to provide mine-clearers, medical support and possible future aid such as help with setting up an electoral system fitted with the Government's stance because the operations were backed by the UN.

The mine-clearers would help clear access routes for the delivery of humanitarian aid, particularly in north Iraq and the borders with Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.

They would search for and remove booby traps, destroy large stores of weaponry left by the Iraqi military, unexploded US bombs and old landmines.

Of particular concern were the thousands of unexploded cluster bombs dropped by US attack aircraft.

One Baghdad doctor has reported that up to 50 children have already been wounded by cluster bombs.

Mine clearing

* NZ already has six Defence Force mine-clearers working in Mozambique, Cambodia and Laos.

Landmines and unexploded bombs in Iraq date back to World War II. * It is estimated that since 1991 in Iraq 3700 people have died of wounds from landmines and from bombs that failed to explode on impact. * In 2001, 1168 prostheses were given to survivors.

* From 1998 to mid-2002, 9600 antipersonnel mines were destroyed and more than 45,000 unexploded bombs cleared by UN.

* Mines include Gators, scattered by aircraft, Area Denial Anti-Personnel Mines, fired by howitzers, Modular Pack Mine Systems, which can be remote-controlled, and Volcanos, activated by tripwire.

* There are thousands of unexploded cluster bombs dropped by the US.

Herald Feature: Iraq war