Agence France Presse

BERLIN, 17 January 2004 — Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday softened Germany’s refusal to offer its assistance in Iraq , opening the door to a “humanitarian” engagement using military planes to evacuate the wounded.

“We will make a decision when the issue comes up. In any case, we stand by the position that we will not engage militarily in Iraq,” Schroeder said on ARD television.

“That of course does not mean that if aid for the wounded is needed that we would not help.”

The daily Die Welt reported this week that Schroeder had told lawmakers he was ready to provide medical evacuation planes from the Bundeswehr armed forces to Iraq.

Asked about the article, Schroeder told reporters on Wednesday evening that Germany had “no intention of changing our policy in Iraq.”

But he added: “We now intend to give humanitarian aid, above all to those who are injured.”

Schroeder said in the ARD interview that a final decision on any assistance in Iraq would require the request of “an Iraqi, perhaps provisional... government.”

If such an authority asked Germany for aid “then we will not be able to refuse as long as it involves offering transport of the wounded, such as victims of terrorist attacks,” Schroeder said, adding he expected a final decision to be made by mid-2004.

Defense Minister Peter Struck confirmed Germany could provide “helicopters and planes to provide aid” if asked by an interim Iraqi government.

“And if we were asked to fly out wounded Iraqis or wounded soldiers from Baghdad to Germany, we would of course do that,” he said.

The provisional Iraqi Governing Council and the US-led coalition in Iraq agreed in November to transfer power to an interim Iraqi government through a transitional assembly by June 30.

A decision about possible NATO operation in Iraq is not expected before the summer.

Germany was one of the fiercest opponents of the US-led invasion of Iraq and has repeatedly ruled out sending troops to help stabilize the country.

Schroeder’s new openness to lending a hand in Iraq follows two further steps welcomed by the US government, which had been angered by Berlin’s strident condemnation of the war.

The first was a Franco-German decision in December calling for a substantial reduction of Iraq’s crippling debt burden with the Paris Club of creditor nations in 2004.

Berlin and Paris made the offer during a visit by White House envoy James Baker, who was on a tour of European countries to encourage the cancellation of part of Baghdad’s total foreign debt of around $120 billion.

In addition, Berlin has offered to supply German officers to train Iraqi police as criminal investigators in the United Arab Emirates. A government spokesman said Interior Minister Otto Schily would travel to the UAE today for a five-day mission to discuss the logistics of such training.

Meanwhile France, an ally in opposing the Iraq war, announced yesterday it was willing to consider a possible role in bolstering security in Iraq once sovereignty has been fully handed over to the Iraqi people.