Elders gather for Basra council

Elders gather for Basra council

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes BBC correspondent in Basra

Leading religious, tribal and business figures have assembled in Basra for the first meeting of the Iraqi city's new interim advisory council.

There was something vaguely colonial about the gathering.

The city elders were welcomed at the grand entrance to Saddam Hussein's former summer palace by Brigadier-General Graham Binns, commander of Britain's 7th Armoured Brigade.

The council is to try to help troops get the city functioning again

But if the scene was colonial, the words were not.

This may be a castle we meet in, General Binns told the councillors, but do not think of me as the new king of this castle.

The job of the new council is, he said, to get Basra back on its feet and to return the city to full Iraqi civilian administration as quickly as possible.

That will be a lot easier said than done.

The city is still without electricity and water, schools are still closed and most people have still not returned to work.

But there are now the first clear signs the security situation at least is improving.

Many shops and markets were open on Wednesday, and for the first time since British troops entered the city 11 days ago, large numbers of women and children could today be seen out on the streets again.