By NNN-KUNA
London : The situation in southern Iraq and the rest of the country has improved a great deal as the police and army are in a much better condition, a British minister said.
Speaking after his return from a tour that included Iraq and a number of GCC states, British Foreign Office Minister Dr Kim Howells told a group of Arab journalists here Tuesday that despite the relative improvement of the situation, there are still some worrying realities there.
Dr Howells, who specializes in affairs of the Middle East, said: “The situation is by no means perfect.”
“There has been real progress on the security front and a real effort to combat some worst aspects of corruption…. Since the British withdrawal to the air base outside Basra, the number of rocket attacks on them has dropped,” Howells said. However, he noted that the attacks are still continuing, but to a lesser extent.
The minister said that while he was there rockets came in and tragically some locally employed staff were killed.
Meanwhile, Dr Howells said that “there is a lot to be done in Iraq.”
Commenting again on the rocket attacks on the British Army, he said that British troops deal with it in a most sensitive way and they do not send attack helicopters “that blow everything to bits within 100 metres of where the rockets were fired from.”
Dr Howells noted that very often the rockets are fired from right in the middle of heavily built-up and domestic areas.
In the meantime, the mood of optimism is also founded by the local Iraqi government in Basra, he said. It told the British minister that there were a lot of small businesses which had started up now and the great reputation of the people of Basra has started to reassert itself there.
Referring to the recent Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, the minister said that the Iraqi government has expressed its concern over this move. “We have to respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi borders,” Dr Howells said.
However, he also countered this by saying that Iraq should not harbour terrorists on their soil, in reference to the separatist Turkish-Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
At the beginning of his briefing, the minister gave a round-up of the outcome of his tour, which included, in addition to Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman.
He underlined the importance of his discussions with the Saudi and Omani leaders which covered the situation in the region, including the crisis in Lebanon, the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis and bilateral relations.
He expressed his admiration of the way the Saudi Arabian government is handling the terrorist threats against the country and challenging terrorism.
On the situation in Lebanon, Dr Howells agreed with his hosts that it was looking very difficult.
Commenting on the forthcoming visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad to Iraq, Dr Howells welcomed the strengthening of relations between Baghdad and Tehran after the terrible history of the eight-year war between them.
While in Iraq, the minister noticed the greater determination of the Iraqi people that they want to overcome the notion of a sectarian divide between Shiites and Sunnis in the country.
Great strides have been made to overcome this sectarian divide there, the minister pointed out.
Dr Howells also said it is in the interests of Tehran to have a stable country on its borders and he expressed the hope that the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad will result in more peace and security in Iraq.