British troops to stay in Iraq after handover

LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) The imminent handover of security in at least one Iraq province to local forces will not lead to the immediate withdrawal of Britishtroops, Defence Minister Des Browne said today.

Browne said foreign forces in the southern province of Muthanna should hand control to Iraqis ''in the near future'' but the Iraqi government would make the final decision on timing.

''I should emphasise that this first step will not result in the immediate return of British troops. We will still have to provide a rapid reaction force with a strong fighting capability,'' Browne told the Royal United Services Institute.

''But as the process of handover continues across other provinces this will enable us progressively to draw down British troops,'' he said.

New Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said during a visit to Baghdad by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday that Muthanna and Amara, also in the south, could be handed to Iraqi security forces next month.

Maliki said Iraqi forces could be in charge of most of the country by December, except for the provinces of Anbar and Baghdad.

Browne warned against a swift handover to Iraqis.

''We want Iraq to take full responsibility for its own security.

Of course we -- and they -- want to get to this point as fast as possible. But we cannot go too fast, if we want the progress we are making to be sustainable,'' he said.

He said progress in Iraq's provinces would be measured by assessing the threat from militia, the local Iraqi capability, gauging the capacity of the national and provincial governments and the coalition's capacity to step in when needed.

REUTERS SI KN2159