New Zealand would join UN force in Lebanon, says Clark

New Zealand would be prepared to take part in a United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.

However, Miss Clark said no decisions had been made by the UN and the Security Council would not discuss the possibility until later this week.

And she said any New Zealand contribution would be small.

"It usually takes the UN a while to organise ground forces," she said on National Radio.

"We've always said we would want to make some response to a UN pool, but we've pointed out that New Zealand has a lot of commitments offshore at the moment.

"So it would be unlikely to be a sizeable contribution."

She later told TV One's Breakfast programme she thought a UN decision was still some way off.

"Firstly there's got to be a peace to keep. That needs a ceasefire, and Security Council agreement that a force can be mounted," she said.

"Right now there is no agreement on a force. We will send our UN representatives to the meetings to try to get some idea of what people are talking about."

Helen Clark said New Zealand had not raised any expectations that it could be involved in a large way, saying: "It's not likely to be a battalion of troops."

She said the real concern in the Middle East was that the conflict would spread, possibly involving Syria and Iran.

- NZPA