NZ set for long-term role in Iraq

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

New Zealand is poised for a "long-haul" involvement in Iraq.

Prime Minister Helen Clark is raising the prospect of sending police or election advisers to help the war-torn country to rebuild.

She said that without any confirmation of a future United Nations role in Iraq, it was too soon to say if peacekeepers might be sent.

About 61 Defence Force staff, mainly engineers, are working on reconstruction in Iraq but their six-month duty ends in September.

They will not be replaced then, but Helen Clark has not ruled out sending more engineers if resources allow.

Officials are now working on how to spend about $2.5 million on aid for Iraq this year, plus $10 million more in the next financial year, possibly focusing on civil help.

Helen Clark said NZ would not be rushing to send police to Iraq, and former or retired officers might be an alternative to serving officers.

The United States-led coalition forces are due to hand authority to an as-yet-unknown Iraqi administration on June 30, with elections scheduled for December or January.

Helen Clark said it was important that those deadlines were met to re-establish an elected Iraqi government. Areas New Zealand could help included in policing, to help restore the rule of law, in setting up, monitoring or funding elections, and in agricultural reconstruction.

No decisions have been made on extra help, and Helen Clark said there had been no requests for help from either the UN or the US.

"Everyone's waiting now for the situation to clarify. The last couple of weeks have obviously been very traumatic for everybody in Iraq.

"We need really now to see the shape of what the international engagement will be.

"We're not rushing to put our hands up for police. But we do know we've got a good, sensible police force."

New Zealand had established a reputation for helping with prisons and policing in both the Solomon Islands and East Timor.

"We haven't specifically considered any of these options for the next financial year. But they're the sorts of things that when the Iraqi Government takes over, they may well be put on the table.

"There may be co-ordination through the UN that says, 'Who can put up their hand for this?"'

Meanwhile, National and New Zealand First intend to oppose a new law that will ban and jail New Zealanders if they are mercenaries.

National defence spokesman Simon Power said the bill spent more time saying who was not a mercenary than it did defining who was one.

The law would be impossible to enforce, he said, and questioned Parliament was bothering with it.

"The whole thing's a shambles. Nobody says getting into war for profit is a good thing but you can't just pass law for the sake of it."

Only six submissions resulted from calls for public input when the bill was introduced last year.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said the bill would allow New Zealand to ratify an international convention outlawing mercenaries.

Any New Zealander who wants to kill for profit in overseas wars could be jailed for up to 14 years.

Exemptions include soldiers whose country is under attack, landmine clearers, security guards in non-combat roles and anyone working for a UN organisation.

A person who works for a security company taking part in hostilities, rather than simply protecting an individual or property, may be considered a mercenary, although that remains unclear in the legislation.

Labour, United Future, the Progressives and the Green Party support the bill.

Herald Feature: Iraq