Low key ceremonies as some Iraqis mark Saddam's birthday

AWJA, Iraq, April 28, 2007 (AFP) Small crowds of Sunni Arabs gathered in parts of northern Iraq Saturday to mark former dictator Saddam Hussein's first birthday since his execution, amid calls to keep the celebrations low-key.

Dozens of local residents and school children were gathering near the tomb of Saddam in Awja, his home village, where the former dictator was laid to rest after he was hanged on December 30 for crimes against humanity.

Saddam is entombed inside a hall in Awja, which used to be a gathering place for condolence meetings during his former regime. Awja lies just outside the city of Tikrit, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

"The children of Salaheddin want to celebrate the birthday of the martyr Saddam Hussein near his tomb. They regard him as their father," said Fatin Abdul Qadir, the head of a children's organisation in the province.

"They will put a wreath on his tomb but not light candles as Iraq is caught in the darkness of occupation," she said.

Most Iraqis rejoiced when Saddam was overthrown in a US led invasion, but many members of his tribe and some former members of his ruling Baath Party continue to honour his name.

The bloody chaos that has descended on Iraq in the wake of the invasion and the controversial way in which Saddam was executed by the new Shiite-led regime have also hardened support for him in some Sunni communities.

Ali al-Nida, the chief of the Baijat tribe to which Saddam belonged, urged the Sunnis to keep their ceremonies low-key or even to postpone them. "The are plans by school boys and girls to gather at the tomb of late President Saddam Hussein," Nida confirmed to AFP.

"But I told them that the security situation is not suitable. They must postpone these celebrations until the circumstances improve and the political reality in Iraq is changed." "Only then they can celebrate the occasion which Iraqis used to respect before the occupation began on April 9, 2003."

Four years ago, US tanks rolled into Baghdad and marines pulled down a tall bronze statue of Saddam in the capital's Firdos Square, marking the toppling of his regime.

The former dictator was hanged after an Iraqi special tribunal found him guilty of executing 148 Shiites from Dujail, a village where he had escaped an assassination bid in 1982