Suffolk Iraqis celebrate Saddam's fall

IPSWICH Iraqis are celebrating the fall of Saddam, but are already worried about what comes next.

News from the Gulf suggests the tyrant's rule is coming to an end, but feelings of joy among his people are tempered by worries for the future.

Sara Yildirm, 30, of Austin Road, has forged a new life for herself in Ipswich after fleeing Iraq three years ago.

But her feelings are still very much back home and especially with her Kurdish friends and relatives.

She said: "I can't believe it, but obviously I am very pleased. The problem is what happens now?

"Most of the Iraqi people don't know what will happen next. All my life I lived with just one person – just Saddam.

"We never saw Iraq without him and now we don't know what will happen when he is gone."

Iraqi-born Suffolk businessman Bob Zablok watched today's events unfold on television with undiluted joy.

"I'm really chuffed," he said. "This is exactly what I hoped would happen."

His family still live in Baghdad, although some members fled to Syria at the start of the conflict.

Now he is trying to arrange a ticket back to his homeland to find out how his things are.

"I haven't heard anything from them for two weeks since the communications centre was bombed," he said.

"I'm desperate to find out what has happened and I would like to get over there within the next two to three weeks."

Mr Zablok has lived in Britain since the early 1970s and is now a British citizen – he has paid one visit back to his homeland a few years ago.

Now his concern is what happens next.

"I hope the Americans don't hang around too long," he said. "They need to hand over power to the Iraqis as soon as possible."

And he would like to see a key role for the United Nations in stabilising the country.

"I would like to see the blue berets on the streets of Baghdad," he added.