Downer asks UN to assist in Australian hostage release

63-year-old Australian hostage Douglas Wood. Picture / Reuters

CANBERRA - Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has asked the United Nations to assist in securing the release of an Australian held hostage by insurgents in Iraq.

In a video released yesterday by his captors, 63-year-old engineer Douglas Wood pleaded with Prime Minister John Howard and United States President George W Bush to save his life by withdrawing troops from the war-torn country.

The video-tape bears the words Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq, a group that has previously claimed responsibility for kidnappings and attacks on foreign and Iraqi troops.

The group said the kidnap had been timed to coincide with a visit to Iraq by Defence Minister Robert Hill.

Mr Downer, who is in New York for a nuclear weapons conference, met overnight with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to see what can be done at an international level to help secure Mr Wood's release.

"I asked the secretary general if the United Nations could do all within its power to try to help release the Australian who has been held hostage in Iraq, Douglas Wood," Mr Downer told ABC radio.

"The secretary general has undertaken to give instructions to the UN officials in Iraq to provide every possible assistance to the Australians.

"So we're very pleased that the United Nations secretary general is helping."

A special Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) task force, including Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, is expected to arrive in Iraq today.

Mr Downer, speaking at the United Nations, said while he was prepared to negotiate with the insurgents responsible for the kidnapping, the government would not pay ransom to release Mr Wood.

He warned such a move would only lead to more kidnappings.

"We'll be doing everything we can with two exceptions -- we won't be paying ransom and we won't be changing our policies," he said.

"We are not sub-contracting our foreign policy to terrorists and we're certainly not going to have the money of Australian taxpayers expropriated by terrorists."

Mr Wood's kidnapping was disclosed yesterday when his captors released a video-tape showing him pleading for his life.

The Australian has lived in the United States since 1992 and is married to an American. He was working on construction projects in Iraq when he was seized.

"Please help me. I don't want to die," Mr Wood said on the tape, seated on the floor and sandwiched between two masked men wielding assault rifles.

Mr Downer said Australia was working on his release but declined to give details, adding: "We don't know where he is and we don't know anything about his condition at this stage.

"Suffice it to say, we're not the first country to find ourselves in this position and I hope we'll be the last," he said.

"But you could excuse us for wondering whether there might be more following us as well and there will be more following us, of course, if we cave in."

Australia, a staunch ally in the US-led war that brought down Baghdad strongman Saddam Hussein, has about 550 troops in the country and is deploying 450 more.

Mr Howard said yesterday that Australia's foreign policy would not be dictated by terrorists.

WOOD TOOK PRECAUTIONS AGAINST KIDNAP

Australian hostage Douglas Wood had done as much as possible to provide security for himself, an acquaintance from Baghdad said today.

Freelance reporter Ilya Gridneff, who met 63-year-old Mr Wood in Baghdad in February last year, said he exuded a jovial friendly attitude which lightened the environment around him.

"He realised like all of us, all people that have been into that scenario, what are the dangers. He like most people did everything they could to protect and provide as much security for themselves as possible," he told ABC radio.

Mr Gridneff said he met Mr Wood over a few beers at a Superbowl function.

"He was a good laugh and a person I warmed to and felt was an alright bloke in that true Australian sense," he said.

Mr Wood, a construction engineer who lives in the United States, worked for the US construction firm Bechtel for 25 years before starting his own business.

He won two contracts in Iraq, one renovating buildings inside the secure green zone and another building a military camp at Fallujah.

Mr Gridneff said Mr Wood had not discussed much about his background or his projects.

"Like many businessmen over there he was involved in contracting and tendering and he was over there to facilitate that process of rebuilding in which ever way he could," he said.

OPPOSITION AGREES

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley agreed that the federal government must try to secure the release without compromising the national interest, said today.

Mr Beazley echoed that position, adding that any policy debate on the virtues of involvement in the Iraq war should be put to one side for the time being.

"The Labour Party has been absolutely clear cut on the issue of Iraq since the time the war began," Mr Beazley told ABC radio.

"We have not accepted the government's judgment at any point of time, really, over the course of the past couple of years ... but having said that this is not the moment for that debate.

"We are as one with the government on this point - and that is you don't shift policy on the basis of a terrorist act against you.

"Now is the moment for us to focus on what needs to be done to secure this man's release without compromising essential Australian national interests."

Mr Beazley would not be drawn on whether Iraq was a more dangerous place for Australians given the government's recent decision to send more troops.

Prime Minister Howard announced in February an additional contingent of 450 troops would be sent to Iraq to protect Japanese forces in the country's south.

"The warnings are there to all Australians that it's a dangerous place to be," he said.

- AAP