By JOHN ARMSTRONG, political reporter
The frigate HMNZS Te Kaha is bound for the Gulf at Washington's request to join a taskforce of warships charged with boarding vessels suspected of carrying al Qaeda terrorists.
Despite the al Qaeda-linked suicide attack on the USS Cole and the similar attack on a French oil tanker in the same region, the deployment is officially categorised as "low risk".
However, Prime Minister Helen Clark said she understood that taskforce patrols had already uncovered al Qaeda and Taleban units. "It is quite a busy operation."
An Air Force Orion surveillance aircraft is also being contributed to the "maritime interdiction operation" in what is a major scaling-up of New Zealand's contribution to the United States-led campaign against terrorism since the Bali bombing.
The six-month deployment of about 250 Defence Force personnel - including Hercules flights to Afghanistan to supply New Zealand's 30 to 40 SAS troops - follows a request from Washington some months ago and an informal meeting between Helen Clark and President George W. Bush at last month's Apec summit in Mexico.
But the Prime Minister said New Zealand ships and aircraft would be "roped off" from any US military action against Iraq and would not join such an offensive.
Neither would they be involved in a separate long-running naval operation in the northern Gulf which intercepts vessels suspected of breaking trade sanctions against Iraq.
Such assurances were sought by Labour's coalition partner, the Progressive Coalition, before the Cabinet approved the deployments yesterday. Despite that, Opposition parties interpreted the dispatch of the frigate as "tacit support" for President Bush's campaign against Iraq.
Te Kaha will patrol the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, where it will monitor all shipping. It will also take part in intelligence gathering, identifying and detaining al Qaeda and Taleban operatives and escorting US and coalition vessels through the Straits of Hormuz.
The Canadian-commanded force comprises between four and seven ships from Canada, France, Italy, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, Britain and the US.
Te Kaha, now off Western Australia, is being deployed immediately. The ship has been away from New Zealand since August. It will be brought home in February for maintenance and its sister ship, Te Mana, will replace it as part of Operation Enduring Freedom until the middle of next year.
The P3K Orion aircraft will be provided for maritime patrols from next April in the Arabian Sea and adjacent waters. Actual deployment is subject to satisfactorily concluding a basing agreement with a regional Government which the Prime Minister would not identify yesterday.
The Orion, with a crew and support staff of about 35, will be deployed for six months on a rotating basis.
A C130 Hercules aircraft will be available in mid-2003 to move coalition personnel and stores in and around Afghanistan. The C130 could be deployed for up to three months with about 25 support staff.
After Bill English's aborted call to bring the SAS back from Afghanistan, National was quick to back the Government yesterday, saying it was "right behind" the new deployment.
But the Greens claimed New Zealand's latest commitment to the "war against terror" effectively meant it had joined the US buildup against Iraq.
"Does the Prime Minister expect anyone in this country or overseas to buy her story that the frigate is to wage war against the Taleban and al Qaeda in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf?" asked party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke. "Afghanistan doesn't have a coastline, let alone a navy!"
April Marusich, mother of Chief Petty Officer Doug Marusich, said the Navy rang her in Greymouth yesterday afternoon to tell her her son's ship was going.
She said the news came as a shock. "Every mother and father wish that they didn't have to go. But he always said that was what he signed up for, and we were aware of that too."
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Frigate joins anti-terror force in Gulf
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