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| Iraq |
| Australia & Britain withdrawing troops from Samawah |
| 2005-09-24 |
| THE Federal Government will not confirm reports it has informed Japan it plans to withdraw Australian troops protecting Japanese military engineers in southern Iraq by May next year. Japan's Kyodo news agency today reported Japanese government sources had said Australia and Britain had told them they planned to pull out of the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, where Japanese forces are involved in humanitarian and reconstruction work, by May. It said Tokyo would look at pulling out its troops in line with the Australian and British moves. Australia has not given a definite timetable for withdrawal, however when the Government deployed 450 troops earlier this year to protect Japanese personnel it said the initial deployment would be for 12 months. Defence Minister Robert Hill is currently overseas and his spokesman could not confirm the Japanese report. However, he said a withdrawal in May next year was in line with the Government's commitment. Asked last week whether Australia had given Japan a timeline for withdrawal, Senator Hill replied: "We haven't told them any more than what we've said publicly. "We've made a commitment to a 12-month deployment. I think that takes us through to about April, maybe even May of next year, and during the course of that 12 months we said we would look to the future, and that future will in part depend on Japan's decisions in relation to a continuation or otherwise in Iraq." A withdrawal of Australian and British troops from southern Iraq would make it impossible for the Japanese forces to continue their mission in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World |