Japan pledges support to rebuild Iraq

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan assured the visiting Iraqi prime minister on Monday it would keep helping his country to rebuild, as Iraqis back home staged a big anti-U.S. protest in the city of Najaf on the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall.

"There is no change in our policy to actively help with the reconstruction of Iraq through official development assistance and activities of the Self-Defence Forces," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was quoted as telling Nuri al-Maliki.

"We want to forge a long-term strategic partnership," a government official quoted Abe as saying.

Earlier in the day, Maliki told Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma that Iraq hoped to see Japanese firms return to the country soon, a Japanese official told reporters.

"We hope the security situation becomes stable quickly so that both Japan's government and businesses will be able to make more contributions," the official quoted Kyuma as replying.

Baghdad spent Monday's anniversary under curfew, but tens of thousands of marching Iraqis, mostly men and young boys, staged a peaceful rally in the southern Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, chanting "No, no to the occupation, no, no to America".

Sadiq Al-Rikabi, a senior adviser accompanying Maliki, brushed off concern over the protest, saying Iraqis should be allowed to express opinions if it was done peacefully.

"A protest today is no problem. This is just one of the democratic results of the new Iraq," he told Reuters.