BAGHDAD, Iraq — The transfer of control of Iraq’s southern Babil province from U.S. forces to Iraqi authorities, planned by Iraqis to happen this month, will be delayed indefinitely, government officials and security forces said.
“No time and place have been decided yet,” said Brig. Gen. Faris Jibouri, acting police chief in the provincial capital of Hillah.
In November, a provincial government spokesman and a police spokesman told reporters in Hillah that Dec. 17 or Dec. 18 were possible dates for the hand-over. And on Monday, a member of Babil’s provincial council said that Dec. 16 also had been considered as a possible transfer date.
But U.S. military officials in Baghdad said Monday that Babil was not scheduled for provincial Iraqi control until June 2008.
“December 16 was one of the possible dates to hand the Babil security file to the Iraqis,” said Murtada Kamil, who heads the legal committee of Babil’s provincial council. “However, the transfer didn’t happen, not because the security forces in Babil are not ready, but rather the issue has to be decided between the central government and the U.S. forces.”
But Brig. Gen. Abd Amir Kamil Abd Alla, the commander of the Iraqi Army’s 2nd Brigade 8th Division, cited a lack of readiness on the part of Iraqi security forces as a reason for holding off on the transfer of control.
Another factor, Alla said, was the need for the governorate to choose a new police chief for the province because of the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qais Hamza Mamouri. He was killed earlier this month when a roadside bomb struck his convoy.
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