New force to guard southern ports

 

By Ruwaida Adnan

 

Azzaman, 2004-09-19

 

The Ports Authority now has its own Rapid Intervention Force to guard against infiltrators and saboteurs.

 

The force is based at Umm Qasr, the country’s main port which currently handles about 50 percent of external trade.

 

Umm Qasr is slowly turning into Iraq’s lifeline as highways to neighboring countries particularly Syria and Jordan are increasingly becoming insecure.

 

Coalition troops have removed mines and rusting hulks and modernized the port.

 

Umm Qasr and strategic oil terminals in the south have, so far, escaped the violence that continues to cause havoc elsewhere in the country.

 

Faris Mohammed of the Ports Authority said members of the new force have been “selected carefully and they have already began their patrols to deter saboteurs and infiltrators.”

 

He said more than 60% of Iraqi imports of wheat are unloaded at Umm Qasr.

 

Iraq relies heavily on food imports to meet the requirements of a national food rationing program without which millions of Iraqis will go hungry.

 

The port has its own power generators which are operated when electricity from the country’s fractured national grid goes off.