Post-war Iraq - Now the battle for peace begins

British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons two days ago that with the conflict in Iraq near the end, the challenge of peace was now beginning and they had a heavy responsibility to make the peace worth the war.

The Americans began to realise yesterday just how heavy that responsibility will prove to be, with the first of a series of meetings to shape an interim authority and a future government was held in Nasiriya.

It was met with a boycott from many pivotal figures and an estimated 20,000 people marched through the southern city in protest against what is seen as heavy American involvement in laying out the future of Iraq.

An American airbase was the venue for the opening move in attempting to bring together exiled Iraqi opposition groups, local religious and tribal leaders and US representatives. The United Nations, an organisation which should play a crucial role in helping the Iraqi people establish their future government, has been given only observer status at Nasiriya.

It is at this stage that the UN should commence the “vital role”, adverted to by Mr Blair and President Bush at the Belfast summit, to try to overcome the mistrust which Iraqi Shia groups harbour against America.

Whatever euphoria and relief was felt towards the coalition ending Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, it could all too easily be replaced by resentment if America is perceived as attempting to impose a solution which is not embraced by the majority of the Iraqi people.

Brokering an agreement between so many disparate and vested interests will be a difficult task.