political news

The US military is to hand over control of its last remaining detention centre in Iraq, as it increases the pace of its withdrawal from the country.

The Iraqi authorities will take charge of 1,600 of the 1,800 detainees at Camp Cropper, near Baghdad's airport.

The US military has been asked to hold the remainder, some of them alleged members of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Earlier this week, 26 former members of Saddam Hussein's regime, including his deputy PM Tariq Aziz, were transferred.

Mr Aziz gave himself up in April 2003, about a month after the US-led invasion, and had been housed at Camp Cropper in special quarters.

The 74-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants found guilty of profiteering.

Another 29 former regime figures were handed over to Iraq last year. Only one, Abdul Ghani Abdul Ghafour, faces the death penalty.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says the handover of Camp Cropper will be met with a mixed reaction.

On the one hand it falls in line with the ever-increasing pace of the US military withdrawal and the full transfer of sovereignty, our correspondent says.

But if the US has a chequered history of care for its detainees in Iraq - most notably the photographed abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in 2004 - so the record of post-Saddam Iraqi administrations is little better, he adds.

Persistent cases have come to light of detainees being held without charge, sometimes in secret prisons, suffering excruciating torture.

Prisoners have also complained about overcrowding and poor conditions.

However, Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim insisted the Iraqi authorities were ready to assume take control of Camp Cropper.

"We have been running dozens of prisons, and we are confident of our ability to run all prisons," he told the Associated Press.

Eight members of the former regime, including ex-defence minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie, are among the 200 detainees who will remain in US custody.

They will be handed over before US forces withdraw in December 2011. Some 50,000 combat troops are scheduled to leave by the end of August.

Mr Biden's visit comes four months after Iraq's inconclusive election, in which no clear winner emerged.

He will hold discussions with Iraqi lawmakers and mark the 4 July holiday with US troops, a White House statement said.

The visit is his second to Iraq this year.

Mr Biden was met at the airport by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and top US officials.

The White House said he would meet both Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his main rival Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya list narrowly won the most seats in the 7 March election.

No single party won enough seats to form a government on its own.

A union between mainly Shia groups could leave Mr Maliki in a position to form a government - but Mr Allawi's group says it should form a government because it won the most seats on election day.

The US is concerned that the power vacuum could lead to an increase in violence.

Overall violence has dropped across the country, but militants have launched a string of attacks in recent weeks.

The US has so far taken a hands-off approach during the negotiations - in public at least, reports the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad.

But as the Americans speed up the withdrawal of their forces - they want all their combat troops out by the end of next month - Mr Biden will surely try to put some pressure on the various factions to come to an agreement quickly, our correspondent says.