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Iraq | |
Hakim confident Iraqi forces can keep order in Basra | |
2007-12-16 | |
BAGHDAD - One of Iraq’s most influential Shia figures has said he is confident the country’s security forces will be able to maintain order in the mainly Shia 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. British Major General Graham Binns, head of coalition forces in southeastern 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.
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Posted by:Steve White |