Home > Australia rejects UN troops request
The Foreign Ministry has confirmed Australia has rejected suggestions it send more troops to Iraq to help protect the United Nations mission there.
The Government says it has been informally approached to help with security for the UN assistance mission in Iraq.
But a spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the Australian Government has already made a substantial commitment to Iraq and it will not be sending more troops.
The Federal Opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, has attacked the Government’s handling of the request, saying the UN would have got a better response if Labor had won the election.
"Our position has been quite clear," Mr Rudd said. "We’ve indicated that we would have provided a small number of non-contact personnel to assist the UN presence in Baghdad.
"If today’s reports are accurate and the Howard Government has simply rejected such a request for a modest Australian contribution out of hand, it makes a complete mockery of the position taken by the Howard Government in relation to Iraq in the lead-up to the last election."
Forum posts
19 October 2004, 20:50
but perhaps Austrailians would like to see some French or German contributions before sending more Austrailians into Iraq. Perhaps you can buttress your argument by posting information about the number of French and Gernman troops that are helping to protect the UN mission.