Multinational force to deploy in Iraq this month

6.00pm

BAGHDAD - A multinational force plans to deploy in Iraq this month to try to stabilise a country rocked by lawlessness since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, Poland's foreign minister said today.

The United States, Britain and Poland are to lead the 10-nation force, which Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said would arrive by the end of May.

"The idea is to have all the countries, ready to engage, there by the end of this month," he said on the sidelines of a European Union foreign ministers meeting in Greece.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was more reticent on the deployment saying "no final decisions have been made".

A senior US official has said Iraq will be divided into three as yet undefined sectors, one patrolled by about 20,000 US soldiers and the other two by contingents under British and Polish command. Ten nations have so far offered troops.

The official said the stabilisation force would be separate from the 135,000 US-led combat troops still in Iraq.

US President George W. Bush proclaimed victory in Iraq but said the US-led war on terror was far from over and vowed to hunt down America's enemies before they could strike.

Bush closely linked the ousting of Saddam to the anti-terror campaign launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that still goes on," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Although the Iraq war may be more or less over, violence, looting and lawlessness persist and shortages of vital services such as water and electricity have soured the euphoria felt by many Iraqis when Saddam's iron-fisted rule ended on April 9.

Near the ancient city of Babylon, Iraqis uncovered what could be a mass grave dating back to a 1991 anti-Saddam uprising, digging up dozens of bones wrapped in stained blankets and skulls with rectangles cut out of the back.

The Iraqis said they were looking for sons, brothers, fathers and one mother who they said were taken from their homes during the uprising in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.

"Some of the skulls appear to have been cut open, maybe they were experimenting with the prisoners. Some were executed, you can see bullet holes," said US Lieutenant David Lewis.

United Nations officials warned on Saturday of a potential humanitarian disaster in postwar Iraq unless there was swift action to feed its people and restart basic services.

Speaking at the first UN media briefing in Baghdad since international staff returned to Iraq after the war, the officials said distribution of food rations would start in May.

About 60 per cent of Iraqis depend on rations that were distributed under a UN-monitored "oil-for-food" programme, but they have not received rations for weeks.

"The conditions for the potential development of a humanitarian disaster still exist," said Ramiro Lopes Da Silva, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq.

Baghdad's new police chief resigned on Saturday in a setback to US efforts to restore order in the chaotic capital.

US forces spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Alan King quoted police chief Zuhir al-Naimi as saying he wanted to make way for a younger man. No other explanation was available for the resignation of a man appointed only on April 24.

The US military says about 3000 Iraqi police are patrolling the city of five million and has urged more to return to duty.

Many Iraqi children returned to school on Saturday for the first time since US and British forces invaded Iraq on March 20. Some classrooms were strewn with glass from broken windows.

"I am very scared that they might try to shoot me again," eight-year-old Samar said, reliving a time during the war when a gunman shot at the car she was riding in with her father.

Overcoming postwar disorder will be a huge challenge for the multinational force.

Apart from the three lead nations, Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Albania have volunteered troops, said the US official, who asked not to be named.

Conspicuously absent are France, Germany and Russia. The official said they were not invited to a meeting of 16 nations that approved the plan in London on Wednesday.

Those three countries infuriated Washington by blocking US efforts to win UN Security Council backing for the invasion.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq