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US: Iraqi team to run Baghdad
27/04/2003 18:29 - (SA)
Baghdad - A team of Iraqis will be in place in a few days to take over the day-to-day operation of Baghdad, a senior US official said Sunday, amid mounting anger at the continued lack of basic services since the war.
"There is going to be a basic team of Iraqis running the city," Barbara Bodine, the administrator for central Iraq under retired US general Jay Garner, said after a meeting with Baghdad municipal officials of the former regime.
Bodine said the Iraqi team would be in place "in a few days" but declined to fix a definite date.
"It is going to be made up initially, obviously, of the people who have the expertise," she said, when asked about her talks with the eight Iraqi officials - all deputy officials in the city government under Saddam Hussein.
The meeting came as hundreds of angry Iraqis demonstrated in the centre of the Iraqi capital, frustrated by the delay in restoring water, electricity, telephone service and rubbish removal.
Evolution from combat to stability
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld started a visit to the region for discussions he said would focus on "the evolution that is taking place from major combat operations to stability operations."
CNN said Rumsfeld, who arrived in Abu Dhabi, would make a stop-over in Iraq, although the itinerary was not released for security reasons.
Bodine said her meeting with Iraqi officials and experts was aimed at identifying the most crucial needs for the five million population.
"We talked about a number of basic issues - garbage, trash removal, water, electricity," Bodine said. "Our goal is to get the city not just back to where it was, but better."
The meeting was held in the water and sewage headquarters, part of the city hall complex in the centre of run-down Baghdad.
Also attending the meeting were officials from the US treasury and Major General Carl Strock of the US army corps of engineers, who said he hoped to have a better idea on Monday on progress in restoring Baghdad's electricity.
50% of Baghdad's needs being met
"All the major plants in Baghdad are working. About 50% of Baghdad's needs are being met," he said. "One of the big problems right now is the distribution of power."
Bodine said that Garner would meet with between 300 and 400 would-be Iraqi political leaders on Monday as the United States looks for a potential leader to head the interim Iraqi government that will replace his administration.
Originally scheduled for Saturday but postponed due to bad weather, the gathering is expected to include representatives of the main Iraqi political groups that opposed Saddam Hussein.
US forces announced Sunday the capture of another figure from the ousted regime on its wanted list, General Hossam Mohammad Amin, the former head of Iraq's body that liaised with UN weapons inspectors.
Rumsfeld said he intended to underline the US commitment to both Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We feel a commitment to the people in those countries," he said.
"And we intend to stay there with the international community and assist them in transitioning from where they were to where they are going - from an authoritarian system in each case... to something on a path that is more democratic," Rumsfeld said.
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