Oz figures in hundreds of WikiLeaks' leaked docs

Melbourne: Around 1,442 classified US documents procured by whistleblower website WikiLeaks find mention of America's "rock solid" ally Australia.

According to an AAP report, the foreign cables were just a small part of thousands of documents placed on the website today and one document mentioned about what was going behind the scenes at the 2007 APEC meeting in Sydney.

The previously classified secret documents revealed discussions between the US and China about an arms shipment headed to Iran was passing through Beijing on its way to the

Middle East.

The document sent an order for "urgent action" on North Korea sending arms to Iran via Beijing.

"In September, during their meeting at the APEC summit in Sydney, Australia, President Bush discussed with Chinese President Hu his strong concerns relating to the ongoing trans-shipment via Beijing of key ballistic missile parts from North Korea to Iran's missile program," the cable

reports.

The documents leaked focus on diplomatic relations between the US and Middle East states, it said.

Canberra WikiLeaks' new site Cablegate was struggling on Monday under the expected huge traffic along with a denial of service attack from a hacker carrying the handle of the3ester, a source familiar with WikiLeaks said.

One document talks of political matters in Zimbabwe and describes Australia as a "rock solid" ally of the US. The confidential document from the US embassy in Harare gives a detailed update on the tenuous situation in the southern Africa nation.

Signed by US ambassador Christopher W Dell, the cable talks of the difficulties of change in a country run by Dictator Robert Mugabe.

"To give the devil his due, he is a brilliant tactician (sic) and has long thrived on his ability to abruptly change the rules of the game, radicalize the political dynamic and force everyone else to react to his agenda," the cable said.

Dell goes on to outline the unlikely possibility of quick and large change in Zimbabwe.

"Rock solid partners like Australia don't pack enough punch to step out front and the United Nations is a non- player."