Australia ends operations in Iraq

Australia ends operations in Iraq
Australian troops in Iraq on 19 May (image: Australian army website)

Australia, one of the first countries to commit troops to the war in Iraq five years ago, has ended its combat operations there.

Australian troops are due to begin returning home in a few days in line with a promise by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who swept to power in November.

He said the Iraq deployment was making Australia more of a terrorist target.

The Australians had deployed more than 500 troops in Iraq, helping to train some 33,000 Iraqi soldiers.

About 300 Australians will remain inside Iraq on logistical and air surveillance duties.

No Australian soldiers were killed in combat in Iraq though several were wounded.

'Extremely proud'

John Howard, the former prime minister whom Mr Rudd defeated, has defended his decision to send in troops in 2003.

"I firmly believe it was the right thing to have done," he told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

He added that the cost of the war had been "very, very heavy and much greater than anybody would have liked".

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the Australian mission had been a success.

"Our soldiers have worked tirelessly to ensure that local people in southern Iraq have the best possible chance to move on from their suffering under Saddam's regime and, as a government, we are extremely proud of their service," he said in a statement on Sunday.

He singled out the Australian contribution to the Iraqi army's Counter Insurgency Academy as a "lasting legacy".

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Nepal ex-king 'to go gracefully'
Former King Gyanendra

Nepal's former king, Gyanendra, has agreed to vacate his palace within the next fortnight and live as a commoner, the home minister has said.

Krishna Prasad Sitaula quoted the former king as saying that he would "go gracefully" in line with a constituent assembly vote to scrap the monarchy.

But correspondents say the ex-king did express concern about his future security and where he would live.

On Friday, the national assembly gave him 15 days to leave the palace.

"He said he is ready to live life as a common citizen," Mr Sitaula told reporters after talks with Gyanendra.

"He welcomed and accepted the decision made by the first meeting of the constituent assembly.

"I don't see any complications in the former king's departure from the palace."

Royal assets

The former king appeared to be in relaxed mood and was not agitated, Mr Sitaula said, and gave no indication that he would resist the government order to move out.

He said that Gyanendra did however ask the government for help in finding alternative accommodation for him and his mother.

"Once the issue is resolved he will immediately move," Mr Sitaula said.

The palace of former King Gyanendra

The minister said that the former monarch had also reassured officials "not to believe rumours" that he had moved royal assets out of the palace and had destroyed important documents.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says that Gyanendra may not now move into the house next door to his son in a northern suburb, as some had predicted.

His 79-year-old stepmother, the former Queen Mother Ratna, wants to remain living in Mahendra Manjil, the house in the palace compound where she has lived ever since marrying former King Mahendra after the death of his first wife.

Meanwhile, a member of hundreds of former royal staff who work at the palace compound told the BBC that they were experiencing a difficult period of waiting.

But he said it was time to move on rather than regret what had happened - and that the authorities had promised to find jobs for everyone.

The government, led by former Maoist rebels, has declared that the ancestral home of the former royal family will become a museum.