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SOFIA (Reuters) - NATO newcomer Bulgaria said on Thursday it would reduce the
number of its troops in Iraq by around a quarter in June and decide this month
whether to pull out completely by the end of the year.
The Balkan U.S. ally has sent 450 infantrymen to Iraq but its centrist government
has been under pressure to bring them home from the unpopular mission ahead
of summer general elections.
"There is a significant decrease of around 100 troops in the fifth contingent
in Iraq," Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov told reporters.
Bulgaria is the latest ally in the U.S.-led "Coalition of the Willing"
that occupies Iraq to announce it was preparing to pull out. Italy, Ukraine
and Poland also signaled they were eager to scale down their presence.
Svinarov said the government, led by former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, would
decide by the end of the month whether to withdraw all troops by the end of
2005.
"There is no decision yet, but we have prepared a report," he told
reporters. "It is normal (to think) that if there is a presence in Iraq
in 2006, it should be different from a military one."
Eight Bulgarians were killed In Iraq since the start of the war and last week's
shooting of a junior sergeant by U.S. forces triggered calls from opposition
parties for the country to set a timetable to pull out.
This week, leftist President Georgi Parvanov told the government it should
withdraw troops by the end of the year.
Bulgarian army Chief of Staff Nikola Kolev confirmed the military commanders
were now awaiting a political decision on the withdrawal.
"The most suitable timetable is for the fifth battalion to be reduced
... and to gradually prepare for a withdrawal," Kolev told BNR radio. Parliament
has the final say on troop deployments abroad.
More than 70 percent of Bulgaria's eight million people disagree with the war
and the opposition Socialists have promised to pull out if they win general
elections expected on June 25.
