June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Japan and Denmark have offered aircraft to the United Nations that would allow the world body to deploy more workers in Iraq to offices in Baghdad, the southern city of Basra and Arbil in the Kurdish north.
Japan, which announced yesterday that it would withdraw its ground troops from Iraq, will provide weekly flights to Baghdad and Arbil from Kuwait City. Denmark said it would offer fixed- wing aircraft for the UN to use at its discretion.
The UN, which has depended on the U.S.-led military coalition for air support since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, hasn't been able to respond to Iraqi and U.S. requests for a stronger presence. There are about 100 workers in Baghdad, 30 in Arbil and 10 in Basra, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Deployment has increased only gradually since Secretary- General Kofi Annan withdrew employees following the August 2003 truck bombing that killed 22 UN workers in Baghdad, including his special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
``These contributions will significantly improve UN mobility and support to its offices in Iraq,'' Annan said in a statement released in New York.
Haq said there is no set timetable for when the flights from Kuwait could begin, when the Danish aircraft will become available, or when the UN will send more workers to Iraq.