Honduras to pull out troops, and Thais look shaky

Honduras has followed Spain in announcing it will pull
its troops out of Iraq, and Thailand said its 451
medical and engineering troops will be withdrawn if
they are attacked.

The President of Honduras, Ricardo Maduro, a close ally
of the US, said he had already told coalition countries
that Honduras’s 370 soldiers in Iraq would leave soon.

The withdrawal would be carried out "in the shortest
possible time and under safe conditions for our
troops", he said in a television and radio address.

Spain is commanding troops in Iraq from other Spanish-
speaking nations - Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and
the Dominican Republic.

Honduran soldiers were sent to Iraq last summer as
peacekeepers only, and have been clearing mines and
providing medical care in central Iraq. They had been
set to leave when their mandate expires in July.

Many Hondurans have questioned why their troops should
remain in Iraq now that Spain is withdrawing, and
congressional leaders had expressed concern for their
safety.

The Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, said of
his troops: "If we get hurt or killed, I will not keep
them there." The Thai Senate began a debate yesterday
on a resolution calling for the troops to come home.

The soldiers have been confined to their camp in
Kerbala, south of Iraq, since a wave of violence
erupted a few weeks ago.

"We do not go there to fight. If we get killed why
should we stay?" Mr Thaksin said.

In the embattled Iraqi city of Falluja there were
reports of civilians who had fled battles between US
marines and Sunni rebels trickling back yesterday after
agreement on a preliminary plan to end the fighting.

Witnesses said a few displaced civilians trudged into
the city, but marines at checkpoints turned back
vehicles.

US officials and local Iraqi leaders agreed on Monday
to a series of measures aimed at defusing tensions in
the city, where fierce clashes have killed hundreds of
people over the past two weeks.

Marines besieging the city agreed not to resume their
offensive into the heart of the town if "all persons"
turned in their rocket-propelled grenades, mortars,
missiles and other heavy weapons. Residents could keep
their AK-47 assault rifles for personal protection, the
marines said.

The joint communique from US and Iraqi leaders who have
been negotiating the fate of Falluja also modified the
terms of the US-imposed curfew, allowing access for the
sick and wounded to hospitals and promising to
facilitate the burial of the dead.

Reuters, Los Angeles Times

This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/20/1082395859974.html