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British soldiers are taking the first steps to restore order to the southern Iraqi city of Basra as looting begins to subside, according to official sources Wednesday.
British forces in southern Iraq were quoted by BBC as saying that they have asked a tribal leader to take over as the "mayor" of Basra.
The unnamed cleric will head a committee of local people to run Iraq's second largest city, where British troops have overcome most Iraqi resistance.
In Basra, a British military spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon was quoted as saying that the British military hoped to move from a combat role to "post-conflict nation building" operations within a day or so.
Meanwhile, speaking exclusively to BBC, the commander in charge of all British forces in the Gulf, Major General Robin Brims, said a regional conference would decide on a form of wider government.
The delegates would be drawn from local leadership committees across the region and military sources said that it may also include leading figures from the Iraqi opposition abroad.
As to the developments in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman told reporters that "the most compelling evidence...of the fast moving situation is the view that the command and control in Baghdad appears to have disintegrated,"
But he said US and British forces could still face localized paramilitary resistance from supporters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"I think we do need to be careful and cautious about getting ahead of ourselves because there is localized paramilitary resistance and, because command and control has broken down, that resistance could be stubborn and could be fierce."
(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2003)
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