Western aid agencies are delaying their move into southern Iraq following persistent reports that they could face a hostile reception from the local population.

Earlier expectations that the citizens of Iraq's 'liberated' towns would turn out to cheer and garland incoming US and British troops have turned out to be hopelessly optimistic.

Judging from the reactions of local people on the streets of Umm Qasr, half an hour's drive from Basra, or from towns like Zubayr further to the north, white Western visitors are more likely to be met by a hail of stones.

Some of this can be attributed to a mix of fear and confusion. Few believe that Saddam Hussein is on the verge of being defeated and, even if he is, all remember how they were betrayed by the West in 1991 when local uprisings encouraged by Washington were brutally suppressed by the Iraqi president's henchmen.

Some Iraqis also argue that for all his faults, Saddam Hussein has used his power to keep order in a country riven by tribal and regional jealousies and feuds.

Kassem, a marine engineer at Umm Qasr port, told rediff.com, "I'm not saying Saddam is a good man. He committed many mistakes. But Iraq is a difficult country to rule and it needs a strong person at the top."

So far visiting US and British journalists have been at the receiving end of local hostilities throughout the south. On Saturday night an angry crowd near Zubayr smashed the back window of a four-wheel drive belonging to reporters from London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

The shocked journalists, who managed to escape any serious injury, were obliged to beat a retreat back across the border to the relative safety of Kuwait.

Some of the local anger arises from the continuing shortage of clean drinking water, which used to come from Basra. That supply was interrupted because of the war and the damage caused to water pipes.

British military engineers stepped in to provide an alternative source of water from Kuwait. But the Kuwaiti pipeline stops just across the border and there are simply not enough tankers to carry water from the end of the pipeline to urban centres across southern Iraq.

Some giant water tankers have been spotted carrying water to nearby farms. These could easily be requisitioned to serve the needs of local people, but no one seems to be prepared to take the initiative.

For a restless local population this is further evidence that Western governments cannot be relied upon when it comes to matters of personal survival.

rediff.com Senior Editor Shyam Bhatia is the co-author of Saddam's Bomb, on Iraq's search for nuclear weapons.