He said the UN would increase its staff in Iraq and open a 'support office' in Baghdad to facilitate dialogue between groups that have traditionally not spoken directly to each other, such as some insurgent groups, religious leaders and the government.

The United Nations withdrew most of its staff in 2003 after a bomb killed its top envoy and 21 others. But Iraqi Premier Nouri Al-Maliki says he can now guarantee security for its officials.

'The UN stands ready to broaden its activity in support of the people and government of Iraq,' Mr Ban told a meeting co-chaired by Mr Maliki and attended by top officials from Iraq, the United States, Britain and many of Iraq's neighbours.

'This is a responsibility I take very seriously,' he said. 'It is my belief that security and stability in Iraq will not be obtained through military means alone. There needs to be dialogue, national reconciliation and reduced sectarian tensions.'

Mr Maliki pledged that his government would protect UN workers.

'The security situation... has begun to develop tremendously, and the Baghdad of today is different from the Baghdad of yesterday,' he said.

Security concerns have been the main obstacle for the UN re-establishing a significant presence in Iraq.

The UN was instrumental in helping Iraq establish an interim government, prepare a Constitution and hold polls.

But the suicide bombing of its Baghdad headquarters led it to base most of its staff for Iraq in Kuwait and Jordan.

Mr Ban said there were now 65 UN employees in Iraq - those in Baghdad are based in the secure Green Zone - and others would sent soon to Erbil and Basra.

Staff in Basra were withdrawn earlier this year when Britain reduced its forces.

Mr Maliki was asked about a videotape that reportedly shows private Blackwater security guards firing without provocation on civilians.

He said Iraqi and US investigators were looking into it.

'We have asked the Americans to deal with the investigation through an investigative committee to see whether there is a video of that incident,' he said.

A senior Iraqi official in Baghdad, Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said on Saturday that the video showed that bodyguards protecting US diplomats had fired first in the Sept16 incident in which 11 Iraqis were killed. He added that the company had been implicated in six other incidents in the last seven months, according to The Associated Press.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mr Maliki met at the UN for the first time since the shoot-out.

On Friday, Dr Rice announced a security review to examine the rules of engagement followed by security contractors and their current immunity from prosecution by Iraqi and US military courts.

LOS ANGELES TIMES