BASRA, Iraq—Britain handed responsibility for security in Basra province to Iraqi forces on Sunday, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of the southern part of Iraq.
"Today we stand before 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 at the last British base at an airport outside the city.
The British commander, Major-General Graham Binns, praised the Iraqi security forces and said they were up to the task.
Responsibility for Iraq's main oil export hub — the last of four provinces controlled by Britain since 2003 — will be the biggest test yet of the Baghdad government's ability to maintain security without troops from the United States or its main ally.
With Iraq's second-largest city, only major port and nearly all its oil exports, Basra is far more populous, wealthier and more strategically located than any of the other eight of Iraq's 18 provinces previously placed under formal Iraqi control.
It has also often been more violent, although Iraqi forces say their 30,000 troops and police in the area can keep peace.
Many Basrawis expressed optimism.
"Today we are happy security will be handed over from the occupying British forces to Iraqi forces. You can see this happiness on the faces of everyone. It feels like a heavy burden has been lifted off our chests," said teacher Adel Jassem.
But others questioned whether Iraqi troops are up to the job: "The handover is a good step, but we hope that Iraqi forces are ready. I don't think they are fully ready and the handover should have been delayed," said merchant Faisal Sharhan, 28.
Iraq's second-largest city is a lively place, with restaurants open late and little of the barricaded neighbourhood siege mentality that permeates the capital Baghdad. The mainly Shi'ite southern province has escaped the sectarian warfare that killed tens of thousands of people in central and northern Iraq.
But Basra has been the scene of bloody turf wars between rival Shi'ite factions, criminals and smugglers. Basra's police accuse militants of imposing strict Islamic codes and killing women for so-called "honour crimes".
The factions agreed to a truce this month and killings are down. But a triple car bomb attack which killed about 40 people in neighbouring Maysan province last week served as a reminder of the potential for violence in areas vacated by the British.
Scaled Down
A scaled-down British force will remain in southern Iraq confined to a single base at Basra's airport, with a small training mission and a rapid reaction team on stand-by.
Britain now has 4,500 troops in Iraq, less than a 10th of the force that then-Prime Minister Tony Blair dispatched to help topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, has said the force will shrink to just 2,500 by mid-2008.
Basra province exports more than 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, providing nearly all Iraq's government funds. Some oil is also sold outside official channels by smugglers, many believed to have links to the region's squabbling militias.
Power is split among three main factions. Loyalists of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have wide influence on the streets, the rival Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council has clout in the security forces and the smaller Fadhila party controls the governorate.
British forces began handing over the southern provinces last year but suffered ever-deadlier attacks as they withdrew.
Of the 134 British service members killed by enemy action in Iraq, more than 30 died in a four-month period from April-July this year after Blair announced plans to withdraw from Basra.
In May, generals had to call off plans to dispatch Prince Harry, a tank officer, to serve in Iraq because it became too unsafe to send the man third in line to the throne.
Feeds