Iraq:Britain devolved responsibility for security yesterday to Iraqi forces in the last of four provinces it once patrolled, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.
Thousands of Iraqi police and troops paraded along the palm-fringed embankment of Basra, the country's second biggest city in a show of force on a scale unseen since the days of Saddam Hussein.
They drove past in an array of military equipment, showcasing a variety of ordnance. Iraqi helicopters buzzed overhead and gunboats sailed up the Shatt al-Arab waterway which leads from the Gulf.
"Today we stand at a historic juncture and a special day, one of the greatest days in the modern history of Basra," provincial governor Mohammed Mosbah al-Waeli said at a ceremony held in the departure lounge at Basra airport, where a scaled-down British force now has its last remaining base.
Control of Basra province will be the biggest test yet of the Baghdad government's ability to keep the peace without relying on troops from either the United States or its main ally.
Iraq's second-largest city, only major port and key oil installation is far more populous, wealthier and more strategically located than any of the other eight of the country's 18 provinces previously placed under formal Iraqi control.
British commander Maj-Gen Graham Binns said Iraqi security forces had "proved that they are capable".
Meanwhile, residents in the port city are optimistic about the future. Basra is a lively place, restaurants open late and there is little of the siege mentality synonymous with Baghdad. The mainly Shia south escaped the sectarian warfare that ravaged central and northern Iraq.
But the city has seen plenty of bloodshed in the form of turf wars between rival Shia factions, criminals and smugglers. Police accuse fanatics of imposing strict Islamic codes and executing women in so-called "honour killings".
A treble car bomb attack which killed about 40 people in neighbouring Maysan province last week was a reminder of the potential for violence in areas vacated by the British.
The Iraqi government says since Basra's main factions agreed to a truce this month killings are down and 30,000 troops and police can keep the peace.
Britain now has 4,500 troops in Iraq, less than a 10th of the force deployed in 2003. But some have criticised the manner of the British withdrawal. US-based defence expert Anthony Cordesman has called it a "defeat".
- (Reuters)