BAGHDAD (AFP) - - Iraq was set to hold its first-ever international flower festival on Wednesday with the hope of showing the world that peace is blossoming after the winter of a long war.
Municipal council spokesman Hakim Abdel Zahra said the festival would open at 5 pm (1400 GMT) in central Baghdad's Al-Zawra park with flower merchants from several Middle Eastern and European countries as well as India.
"We want to send a message that Iraq is a country that is interested in love and peace," Abdel Zahra said. "The time of violence and fear is over now."
In the last two years, US and Iraq forces have allied with local tribes and one-time insurgents to bring calm to large swathes of the country that were plunged into violent chaos after the 2003 US-led invasion.
During the bombing of the Iraqi capital at the start of the war, many Baghdadis bought flowers and small garden plants to be left as symbols of their life, were they to be killed.
Zawra Park reopened in July, more than five years after the invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It features a zoo, swimming pool and a promenade which is particularly popular during religious and national holidays.
