Focus for resistance gone, says PM

The capture of Saddam Hussein will put momentum behind efforts to rebuild Iraq, Prime Minister Helen Clark says.

His capture was a great relief, she said.

"While he was unaccounted for, Saddam was clearly a focal point for the violent resistance to coalition forces. That focal point has now gone."

The Prime Minister said the Government would be telling the US of its "relief and hope" that Saddam's capture would help Iraq to move forward.

While there would almost certainly be ongoing opposition to the presence of occupying forces, there would also be greater optimism about efforts to rebuild Iraq and achieve the stability which would allow Iraqis to run their own affairs again.

Helen Clark said that when she heard the news of his capture yesterday morning her initial reaction was "to share the general relief of everybody".

"It's the end of a chapter in Iraq and I think it enables Iraq to move ahead," she said.

Defence Minister Mark Burton said the big task of rebuilding Iraq remained.

But Saddam's capture would remove "one of the major threads of insecurity for many, many Iraqi people and I think we can all hope ... that this is a step in that long process of rebuilding a society and a positive future".

National leader Don Brash said the capture of Saddam was a lesson to all tyrants that eventually their actions would catch up with them.

"Like the capture and trial of Slobodan Milosevich for his evil deeds in Yugoslavia, this is a demonstration that eventually dictators will have to answer for their activities."

- NZPA

Herald Feature: Iraq