UK troops return Basra to Iraqis

Iraq formally took over security control of the southern oil province of Basra from British forces on Sunday paving the way for Britain to sharply reduce its nearly 5,000-strong troop presence.
The memorandum of understanding ordering the transfer was signed by Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili and Major General Graham Binns, the head of British forces in Basra, Iraq's second city.
"The handover means victory for Iraq and defeat to its enemies," Iraq's national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said at the handover ceremony.
"We are celebrating a new marriage today. This achievement is one of the main achievements of the national unity government. It has come after sacrifices and direct support from our sons and all Iraqis. Our biggest challenge is to maintain the security in Basra."
Basra is the ninth of Iraq's 18 provinces to be returned to local control by the US-led coalition.
It is the fourth and final province under British control since the 2003 invasion to be handed back to the Iraqis.
British troops were greeted as liberators when they rolled into Basra but never subsequently succeeded in winning over the predominantly Shia population, and few residents will mourn their departure.
"The handover of the province will give life back to a region which has suffered so much," proclaimed a banner on a main road into the city.
"It's our wish to see the Iraqis take responsibility for security in place of the British. They never understood anything except the language of the bullet," complained Abu Ahmed, a 55-year-old parking attendant.
A recent BBC opinion poll found that the vast majority of Basra residents share that sentiment -- 86 percent of respondents said they saw the British as a negative influence. Only two percent thought their presence positive.
The almost exclusively Shia city of 1.7 million people has been riven by rivalries between Shia militias but feared explosion of violence once British troops pulled back has failed to materialise.
The three main Shia factions in the city -- the former rebel Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), the radical movement of Moqtada al-Sadr and the smaller Fadhila party -- recently signed a peace agreement.
In an interview with AFP, SIIC chief Abdel Aziz al-Hakim said peaceful rivalry between factions was "the very nature of democracy.”