LONDON, May 1: Britain said on Thursday it would re-establish its diplomatic presence in Iraq this weekend after a 12-year break.

“I am pleased to announce that a team of British diplomats will be travelling to Baghdad this weekend to open a British office in the capital,” Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement.

The de facto embassy will be headed by Christopher Segar, who was deputy head of mission at the British embassy in Baghdad before it was evacuated in Jan 1991, shortly before the Gulf war.

Segar is to work with the US-led Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance and other groups in supporting Iraq’s reconstruction. He is also to keep up contact with emerging Iraqi political figures.

The British office — which will receive full embassy status once an interim authority in Baghdad is in place — will be Britain’s first deployment of its so-called “flat-pack embassy.”

Three containers are to be flown out from Kuwait to Baghdad and will be set up on a cricket pitch in the grounds of the old embassy.

Segar and three of his staff, who will fly into Baghdad this weekend, will stay in the modular units until the existing embassy building is deemed structurally safe to move in to.

“With his previous experience and knowledge of Iraq, Christopher will play a key role in reviving and restoring Britain’s links with the people of Iraq who have for so long been deprived of contact with the wider world,” Straw said.

“I hope that that will see this deployment as a further sign of our determination to help Iraq to return to its rightful place within the international community as befits a nation with such a rich history and culture,” he said. —AFP