|
Three of Iraq's most
extreme Sunni Islamist groups warned Iraqis
yesterday not to vote in next month's elections and
threatened to kill anyone who took part.
A statement, posted on the website of the Ansar al-Sunna
group and co-signed by the Islamic Army in Iraq and
the Army of the Mujahideen, told Iraqis not to take
part in "the farce of democracy and elections". It
said: "Anyone who accepts to take part in this dirty
farce will not be safe."
The statement described democracy as "un-Islamic"
and polling stations as "centres of atheism".
With elections due on January 30, the threats will
do little to encourage the Sunni Arab minority to
vote. Their participation is seen as essential to
the elections' credibility.
Iraq's biggest Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic party,
withdrew from the elections last week saying
violence in central and northern Iraq made a free
and fair vote impossible.
The Shia and Kurdish communities are likely to turn
out in much greater numbers.
Up to 14 million Iraqis are expected to go to the
polls to elect a 275-seat transitional assembly,
whose chief task will be to draft a permanent
constitution. On the same day, there will also be
provincial governorate elections while Kurds, in the
north, will vote to elect a Kurdistan assembly.
Determined to derail the electoral process,
insurgents have killed election workers as well as
candidates.
"This [vote] is a mockery by the enemy to grant
legitimacy to the new government which serves the
crusaders," the joint statement said.
"Participating in these elections... would be the
biggest gift for America, which is the enemy of
Islam and the tyrant of the age."
The groups that signed the proclamation have been
among the most active insurgents in Iraq since the
US-led invasion. Between them, they have claimed
responsibility for scores of suicide bombings,
kidnappings, assassinations and attacks on security
forces.
Ansar al-Sunna is thought to have been responsible
for last week's suicide attack on a mess tent at a
US base in Mosul. The Islamic Army in Iraq kidnapped
the two French journalists who were released last
week.
A senior interior ministry official in Baghdad said:
"Until now [these groups] are thought to have
operated independently of each other, but this
message may indicate they are now cooperating
together, and with al-Qaida, tactically and
strategically around the election issue."
On Monday, the Arab TV station al-Jazeera aired an
audio tape purportedly by Osama bin Laden, in which
he also called for a boycott of the vote and
endorsed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his lieutenant in
Iraq.
One senior Iraqi minister appeared sanguine, saying:
"The battle lines are being clearly drawn.
"Are you with democracy and a say in your future, or
are you with slavery to al-Qaida and a miserable
death?"
As polling day nears, the interim government and
American forces are desperate to demonstrate that
they are making headway against the insurgents.
Yesterday they announced the capture of "a senior
member" of Zarqawi's group in a raid in Baghdad.
A government statement said Fadil Hussain Ahmed al-Kurdi,
26, had been captured with two other insurgents. It
said Mr Kurdi, also known as Ridha, was the brother
of Umar Baziyani, a militant arrested in May.
"Ridha was responsible for facilitating
communications between al-Qaida and the Zarqawi
terror networks as well as coordinating the movement
of terrorists in and out of Iraq," the government
said.
The claim that officials from Saddam's regime and
jihadis are working together received a boost
yesterday when Christian Chesnot, one of the French
journalists released last week, told the Arabic
newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that his captors had been
"fundamentalists" and former Ba'ath party loyalists.
"The group, as far as we understood, was made up of
former Ba'athists, including the bodyguard of the
personal secretary of Saddam Hussein," Chesnot was
quoted as saying.
"In addition, there are also youths who told us they
had been trained in Afghanistan in making explosives
and who re ferred to Osama bin Laden as Sheikh
Osama."
Iraq's former ambassador to India, Salah al Mukhtar,
who is thought to be in hiding in Syria, backed the
insurgency this week.
He told Hawlati, an independent Kurdish weekly, in
an interview: "Not only has the Ba'ath party been
successful in reorganising its ranks, but it [is]
capable of withstanding occupation strikes and
striking back more powerfully."
Asked whether the Ba'ath party supported Zarqawi, Mr
Mukhtar said: "We support anyone who takes up arms
against the US colonial rule of Iraq."
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Top |
® 