BAGHDAD, Jun 28, 2009 (AFP) - Popular singers, famous poets and Iraqi music groups will take part on Monday in a big party organised in Baghdad to mark the departure of US troops from cities, towns and villages nationwide on June 30.
Celebrations to mark "a day of national sovereignty" will start at 6pm (1500 GMT) in Zawra Park, the biggest in Baghdad, a statement from the Iraqi capital's council said on Sunday.
Kassem Sultan and Abed Falek, both well-known singers in Iraq, but who live abroad, will lead the event, alongside poets Sabah al-Hilali and Majid Odah.
The musical groups will then continue the evening's entertainment, the statement said.
The government announced last week that formal ceremonies would take place on Monday but the official departure day for American troops on Tuesday has been declared a national holiday.
Soldiers and armoured vehicles will continue to patrol the streets just as they have for the past six years but from now on the they will exclusively comprise the national army and police.
Only a small number of US forces in training and advisory roles will remain in urban areas, with the bulk of American troops in Iraq, still numbering 131,000 as of this week, quartered elsewhere.
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Copyright AFP 2009.
