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This was
a fitting place for Barham Salih, an urbane Kurdish
politician from Sulaimaniya, to begin a week of
intensive campaigning in the Kurdish north.
The Halabja monument, dedicated to the 5,000 victims
of the chemical gas attack by Saddam Hussein's
forces in March 1988, was built during Mr Salih's
tenure as prime minister of the Kurdish regional
government in Sulaimaniya.
And though the building is already showing signs of
wear and tear, the museum and the afflicted town
around it stand as a symbol of the brutality of
Saddam's regime.
Mr Salih, a senior member of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), says his aim this week is "to
mobilise the Kurdish vote for the Baghdad assembly"
in order to enshrine the Kurds' much-cherished
self-rule in a new constitution and assert their
historic claim to Kirkuk.
As he emerged from his vehicle, local dignitaries
and a crowd of well-wishers surged forward, eager to
shake his hand. In most parts of Iraq, this would
have induced panic among the attendant security
detail. Candidates for this weekend's elections have
been avoiding publicity for fear of being targeted
by insurgents. Personal campaigning has been almost
impossible.
But here in the Kurdistan region, where a loyal
police force and about 80,000 battle-hardened
peshmerga fighters keep the peace, Mr Salih stood
under a black umbrella, pressing the flesh and
hugging and kissing old friends.
This was something approaching politics as normal.
And as with all politicians on the campaign trail,
Mr Salih came armed with crowd-pleasing rhetoric and
a host of election promises.
After 13 years of self-rule, many Kurds have come to
view Baghdad as a foreign capital, and are wary of
any of their ilk who seeks high office there. So Mr
Salih, who has held the deputy prime minister's post
for five months, knew he had to quickly re-establish
his "Kurdishness".
Addressing a gathering of families who had lost
their loved ones during the poison gas attacks, he
proclaimed: "I am not a guest in Halabja. I am from
Halabja, as all Kurds and all decent humane people
around the world are from Halabja".
Then Mr Salih, who has never fought an election in
his life and admits to never having voted, delivered
his coup de grace. "We will bring you Chemical Ali,
here to Halabja, to face the victims of his crimes,"
he said, repeating a call for Ali Hassan al-Majid,
Saddam's cousin, to be tried in Halabja for his role
in the gassing of Iraq's Kurds.
Mr Salih later met the legendary peshmerga turned
politician Muhammad Haji Mahmoud, also known as Kaka
Hama (brother Hama), who now leads the small
Kurdistan Democratic Socialist party (KDSP) and is
standing on the joint Kurdish ticket.
The PUK and its once bitter rival, the Kurdistan
Democratic party (KDP), have formed a temporary
alliance for both the national assembly and the
Kurdish parliament. The slate also includes smaller
Kurdish parties such as Kaka Hama's as well as
Turkoman and Christian parties.
The aim is to maximise the Kurds' strength in
Baghdad in the post-election constitutional talks.
The PUK and KDP will compete with each other only in
the provincial elections.
Today, Mr Salih needs the KDSP's votes. Across roast
chicken and mounds of saffron rice, he told Kaka
Hama that the Kurdish bloc would seek to build
alliances with "progressive forces in Iraq, to
establish a federal, pluralist, democratic state".
Kaka Hama, dressed in traditional Kurdish clothes,
promised his support.
Over a glass of cardamom tea, Mr Salih admitted to
enjoying himself: "All elections are exciting," he
said. "But here in Kurdistan we must not be
complacent. I do not know whether I will have a job
in a week's time. These elections could not be more
serious. If we miss our chance now, we could miss
our chance for another 80 years."
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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