IT IS the kind of simple solution to a complex problem that the rest of Iraq can only dream of: the Scots Guards have brought a new year peace to two tribes of warring Marsh Arabs in a small muddy corner of Basra.

The Halaf and Garamsha people have been at loggerheads for as long as their chiefs can remember. Trouble originally flared when the Garamsha moved into traditionally Halaf areas after Saddam Hussein drained the marshes near Basra because they had become a safe haven for the Shia people.

The Halaf are a wealthy tribe of doctors, lawyers and other professionals; the Garamsha are an impoverished warrior tribe of dispossessed Marsh Arabs who farm water buffalo and resort to highway robbery to survive.

But when their age-old rivalry descended into open warfare and began to disrupt the main supply route from Basra to al-Amarah last autumn, the Scots Guards stepped in and attempted to settle the old conflict once and for all.

They rolled tanks into the villages on the outskirts of Basra, established a dialogue between tribal leaders and helped both sides to draw up a peace accord. As a result, fighting stopped this week and an accord was signed a few days ago.

Weapons are being handed in and reparations for loss of life, demolished shacks and stolen water buffalo are being paid in Iraqi dinars.

“When we arrived here at the end of October there was a serious gunbattle every night as well as mortars, heavy guns and anti-tank rockets,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Nickerson. “It wasn’t just some short, sharp stabbing round the back of the bingo hall, it was all-out war.

“The tribes sit astride Route 6 from Basra to al-Amarah. They were hijacking or kidnapping everything that was moving on that road and their battles were hitting main voltage lines and blacking out the northern half of Basra.”

Yesterday, the scene could not have been more different: the Garamsha elders sat barefoot on colourful rugs in the sun, sipping tea and discussing whether to vote in the January elections, while the Halaf children played in the streets.

The widely praised British softly-softly approach was apparent yesterday morning when The Times joined the Scots Guards as they patrolled the Garamsha and Halaf villages.

Sheikh Faris Nsary Adlin, 75, a Garamsha chief, said: “There has been no trouble for a while now. The British are much better than the Americans with the local people.”

As they climbed out of their armoured vehicles, the soldiers replaced their helmets with green berets and bantered with the children.

They have become so friendly with the Garamsha tribal elders that they are offered tea and biscuits in the village which is pocked with puddles of fetid water — all that remains of the fertile marshes that were drained by Saddam Hussein.

Last Hogmanay most of the Scots Guards were partying on the streets of Scotland. Yesterday evening they saw in the new year at their base near Basra. Alcohol is banned, but their commanding officer relented and they were allowed two cans of beer each.

Others were sure they could rustle up some supplementary alcohol. “The Scots Guards always find a way,” one said.

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