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| Monday, 5 May 2003 |
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Multinational force in Iraq this month BAGHDAD, Sunday (Reuters)-A multinational force plans to deploy in Iraq this month to try to stabilise a country rocked by lawlessness since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, Poland's foreign minister said on Saturday. 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 U.S. official has said Iraq will be divided into three as yet undefined sectors, one patrolled by about 20,000 U.S. 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 U.S.-led combat troops still in Iraq. 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 U.S. 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 U.N. media briefing in Baghdad since international staff returned to Iraq after the war, the officials said distribution of food rations would start in May. |
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