TIKRIT,
Iraq, May 7 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) - Starting its plan
of democracy for Iraq, the United States on Wednesday, May 7,
appointed Hussein al-Jaburi as governor of Salaheddin province which
includes Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.
The
nomination of Jaburi was the result of a "cooperative effort
between U.S. forces, the Free Iraqi Forces and local forces,"
said U.S. local operational commander Major Michael Silverman, of the
First Brigade of the Fourth Infantry Division, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
Jaburi's
nomination will be announced officially on Saturday, May 10, Silverman
told AFP in front of the governor's headquarters in Tikrit, the former
bastion of Saddam Hussein some 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of the
capital.
Jaburi,
56, is a former Iraqi army general who had been jailed by Saddam's
regime before working more recently for the Iraqi ministry of customs
and immigration.
He
told AFP his nomination was made in consultation with "local
officials, tribal representatives and intellectuals, who met today
with an American coordinator and a representative of the Free Iraqi
Forces," part of the U.S.-backed Iraqi National Congress (INC)
umbrella opposition group.
"The
priority is the return to normal life and peace, reconstruction and to
guarantee decent living conditions. I will work with a popular
committee comprising tribal chieftains," Jaburi said.
One
of those chieftains, Sheikh Nagi al-Jibari, said that former Iraqi
policemen will from Saturday once again patrol the streets of Tikrit,
albeit without weapons and accompanied by armed U.S. soldiers.
"Primary
and secondary schools reopened yesterday and classes resume at Tikrit
university on Saturday," Jibari said.
"A
water supply has been re-established throughout the province and
electricity is in the process of being re-established, this thanks to
Iraqi efforts."
After
the fall of Tikrit on April 14, the last city taken by coalition
forces, "a committee of tribal leaders was established which will
remain in place to work with the governor," Jibari said.
