One of Iraq's most influential Shiite figures has said he is confident the country's security forces will be able to maintain order in the mainly Shiite province of Basra, which is to be handed over by British troops on Sunday.
Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, who heads the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) - a mainstay of the governing coalition of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki - also told AFP in an interview on Saturday he continued to seek the departure of all foreign troops. "I do not see any forewarnings of violence in Basra," Hakim said. "The Iraqi government has announced that security will be in Iraqi hands, and that will be done from tomorrow." On Wednesday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the handover had been decided because Iraqi forces were ready to take over control of Basra.
"Our security forces are at a good level" and Iraq's forces can manage "security in the province," he said.
The oil-rich southern province has been riven by rivalries between the SIIC, the Shiite radical faction of Moqtada al-Sadr and the smaller Fadhila movement.
But British Major General Graham Binns, head of coalition forces in south-eastern Iraq, recently said the violence in Basra had plummeted.
"I'm confident the current level of violence is sufficient for the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to handle," Binns said.
Speaking himself about the situation, Hakim said: "There are meetings between these forces, and if there is competition between them, that is the nature of democracy, and political competition will not turn into violence."
On December 9, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Basra and said the handover would take place in two weeks, on a recommendation from his Iraqi counterpart, Nuri al-Maliki.
Britain has about 5,500 troops in southern Iraq, and Brown said in October that troop numbers would be cut by more than half to 2,500 by early next year as Iraqis assume control of Basra province.
British troops transferred security control of Maysan province to Iraqi forces in April but the region has seen intense Shiite infighting and battles between militias and Iraqi police.
British soldiers pulled out of the capital, Amara, in August 2006 and the city of 350,000 residents immediately saw gangs of looters move in and strip the barracks bare.
As recently as Wednesday, at least 23 people were killed and 150 wounded in triple car bombings there.
After the handover of Basra, the British troops are expected to provide specialist backup to the Iraqi security forces, such as patrolling Iraq's border with Iran.
Turning to planned security talks between Washington and Baghdad, Hakim said: "What is clear for the Iraqis, for everyone, is that we hope the country will be freed from the presence of foreign troops and that the Iraqi government is working within the framework of the future security accord that will be signed.
"The priority is for Iraq to come from under the United Nations' Chapter Seven," he said, referring to that part of the UN Charter under which a country can be designated as a threat to peace and military action authorised against it.
Hakim, who was recently given a clean bill of health after undergoing treatment for cancer in both the United States and Iran, was also asked about his role as an interlocutor with both countries.
"There is no particular message that I have for one or the other of them," he said. "But we, as Iraqis, are determined to obtain all the support and assistance of these two countries for the people of Iraq and for the government of Iraq. "I am not working to improve relations between the United States and Iran, but we have sought to engage them in a dialogue beneficial to Iraq." Officials from the two countries are expected to meet again soon for further talks on security in Iraq.
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