Iraq formally returns to self-rule two days early

Iraq formally returns to self-rule two days early

Reuters, Baghdad

The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected on Monday, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation.

Outgoing U.S. Governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraqi leaders sealing the formal transfer of powers before immediately flying out of the country.

The low-key ceremony was over before it was announced and came as a surprise to ordinary Iraqis. Its hurried and secret nature appeared to reflect fears guerrillas could stage a spectacular attack on the scheduled date of June 30.

At a second ceremony in the afternoon -- this time broadcast live on Iraqi television -- the government was sworn in and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged all Iraqis to unite against foreign militants wreaking havoc in the country.

"I call on our people to stand united to expel the foreign terrorists who are killing our children and destroying our country," Allawi said in comments broadcast around the world.

At the earlier ceremony, which formally transferred sovereignty at 10:26 a.m. (1:26 p.m.), President Ghazi Yawar hailed "a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to".

U.S. President George W. Bush quietly took note of the secret handover by checking his watch at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Istanbul and shaking hands with his closest war ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The two exchanged knowing smiles and shook hands as they sat around a table listening to speeches. U.S. and British officials say the handover is a key step on the path to democracy in Iraq, but one of the government's first actions as a sovereign power is expected to be the imposition of emergency laws, including curfews, to crack down on guerrillas.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say militants loyal to Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, accused by Washington of links to al Qaeda, are behind a campaign of suicide bomb attacks in Iraq that have killed hundreds over the past year.

Asked whether Allawi would declare martial law, Bush said: "He may have to take tough security measures against Zarqawi... He will not cower in the face of brutal murder and neither will we."

Blair said emergency laws were "not going to be about taking away people's freedoms -- it's going to be about helping those freedoms to happen."

U.S. officials attending the NATO summit acknowledged that thwarting a surge in attacks believed to be planned for the formal Wednesday handover date was a factor in advancing it to Monday. Allawi had requested the change, they said.

"We have said all along that we believed that the terrorists on the ground were going to do everything they can to literally and figuratively blow up the handover of sovereignty," one said.

Such an attack could have damaged attempts by Bush, who faces a presidential election in November, to start an orderly disengagement from Iraq, where hundreds of U.S. soldiers have been killed since last year's invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

Although Allawi's government will have full sovereignty, according to a UN Security Council resolution earlier this month, there are important constraints on its powers.

It is barred from making long-term policy decisions and will not have control over more than 160,000 U.S.-led foreign troops who will stay in Iraq. The government has the right to ask them to leave, but has made clear it has no intention of doing so.