Goff: Diplomacy first but NZ backs force as 'last resort'

By JOHN ARMSTRONG political editor

Foreign Minister Phil Goff expects the United Nations Security Council will now set a strict deadline for Iraq to comply with UN requirements on weapons inspections.

But he said it was still unclear how a new Security Council resolution likely to be hammered out in coming weeks would be worded and what action will follow - military or otherwise - in the event of Iraq's non-compliance.

Mr Goff believed the key to resolving the crisis was for countries which could influence Iraq - such as Russia and France - to apply real diplomatic pressure on Saddam Hussein.

The minister was speaking from New York after US President George W. Bush used his speech to the UN General Assembly to deliver an ultimatum on Iraq.

The President warned that "action will be unavoidable" unless the UN forced Baghdad to disarm.

Mr Bush said Saddam posed a "grave and gathering danger" after engaging in a "decade of defiance" of post-Gulf War UN demands by developing weapons of mass destruction and repressing his own people.

In a dramatic clash, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan questioned Mr Bush's right to go to war in this case and said multilateral action was essential in confronting Baghdad.

Mr Goff said New Zealand welcomed Mr Bush's intention to give the UN a chance to enforce its resolutions on Iraq.

Mr Bush's speech did not contain any great surprises and New Zealand still believed force was "very much a last resort".

There was still no evidence that Saddam posed a fresh and imminent threat, thus justifying urgent military action.

However, New Zealand would support a Security Council resolution mandating military action, though any New Zealand contribution was more likely to be on a logistical or humanitarian basis rather than troops.

New Zealand had already received from the UN a request for a 10-strong team of weapons inspectors.

A senior US official said Secretary of State Colin Powell would meet foreign ministers of the other permanent members of the Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russia - and work quickly on a new resolution demanding a return of unrestricted UN inspections of Iraq's suspected weapons programmes.

* A National Business Review-HP Invent poll published yesterday found that 61 per cent of those questioned opposed US action against Iraq and 64 per cent were against New Zealand troops being involved.

Further reading
Feature: War with Iraq

Iraq links and resources