NAJAF, Nov 8: The US-backed governor of Najaf rescinded his resignation on Saturday after a row with the coalition over the failure to provide adequate security protection and powers to local officials.

“I have decided to go back to my job,” Mr Haidar Mehdi Matar al-Mayyali told reporters after he tendered his resignation on Thursday in this city, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad.

“They have responded positively to my requests.”

Mr Mayyali reversed his decision after receiving a delegation of 90 people, ranging from tribal sheikhs to prominent locals, who asked him to stay in his post in the province, home mainly to Shias, Iraq’s majority population.

Mr Mayyali resigned after calling a general strike on Wednesday for public employees to protest what he saw as the coalition’s failure to meet the needs of the province.—AFP