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Stable government seen as key to averting descent
into civil war.
Baghdad residents are nervously waiting for the
formation of a new government in the hope that it
could end the sectarian violence that has exploded
in the capital.
Though the government lifted its daytime curfew, few
are venturing out on to the streets for fear of
falling victim to the latest round of bloodletting.
Sunni and Shia mosques and neighbourhoods continued
to be attacked by mortars and car bombs in
tit-for-tat sectarian fighting that has continued
since the bombing of al-Askari shrine in Samarra
last week.
"The latest crisis has unravelled three years of
work by the politicians," said Ziyad al-Daraji," a
22-year-old university student. "We are back to
where we started."
The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group,
sharply criticised the government for failing to
stop the violence that some believe has brought the
country very close to civil war.
"It is clear that the government and its security
forces are incapable of taking any action," said
association spokesman Abdul-Salam al-Kubaisi.
Religious and state leaders have called for calm,
but many here say Iraq's lame-duck government is
contributing to the problem, and that a stable
authority was needed to bring the security situation
under control.
"The acts of violence and terrible security
situation after the Samarra bombing can be solved
only with the quick formation of a national
(emergency) government," said Thair Juma, a
political analyst and director of the Protecting
Public Properties non-governmental organisation in
Baghdad. "That needs to be followed by at least a
three-month period of martial law until the
authorities are able to stabilise security."
But a new government looks unlikely to emerge
anytime soon as President Jalal Talabani continues
to spar with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'afari.
Talabani has pushed Ja'afari to create a national
unity government that includes all major parties, a
proposal that Ja'afari and his United Iraqi
Alliance, which holds the highest number of seats in
parliament, has rejected.
Ja'afari made a provocative visit to Turkey this
week without consulting Talabani, who is Kurdish.
Turkey has been widely condemned for discriminating
against Kurds.
Some believe that even if a stable government
emerges, the violence will continue.
Ahmed Salen, a 52-year-old professor at Baghdad
University, said, “If they reach a political
agreement, there are those who will try to create
trouble between the different sects and
ethnicities."
The government issued a statement announcing that
379 people had been killed and 458 wounded as of
February 28 in violence sparked by the Samarra
bombing. At least 30 were killed on March 1, the
Associated Press reported.
Baghdad is still under an 8pm to 6am curfew, and
many residents are staying at home during the day.
Most shops continue to be closed, and the city's
more volatile neighbourhoods are virtually devoid of
life by the afternoon.
Many schools, government offices and ministries are
still shut. The ministry of education issued an
order exempting the children of top officials or
threatened families from attending school daily,
saying they only have to take their final exams.
Some residents said they preferred Baghdad under
curfew, even though it made it difficult to shop for
food and supplies or seek medical care. They
expressed concern that the capital was spiralling
out of control and that security by Iraqi and US
troops was not tight enough.
Haider Shnessil, a 58-year-old real estate agent,
said, “The government lifted the curfew in Baghdad
too soon," he said. "It's better to put a tighter
security lock."
Daud Salman is an IWPR trainee journalist in
Baghdad. IWPR trainee journalist Safaa Mansour
contributed to this report.
www.iwpr.net
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