|
BAGHDAD, June 30,
-- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s tough
conditions for pardoning Sunni rebels who lay down
their arms are going to make it difficult to
convince them to do so, an Iraqi MP said Thursday.
At the same time, a foreign diplomat raised
questions about the identity of armed groups
reportedly in contact with the government and
whether they carry any real weight in the nationwide
insurgency.
“I see escalation of conditions” by the Sunni rebel
groups, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmud Othman. “The
situation is getting complicated, as Maliki said
there will be no pardon for those who have killed
Iraqis. How do you negotiate then and with whom?”
On Wednesday, Maliki said he and others in his
government had been approached by rebel groups who
want to lay down their weapons and join the
political process. But he added that “those who
targeted coalition troops, foreigners and
journalists will not be offered amnesty as they have
spread terror.”
That was in apparent response to unease expressed by
some US senators to the possibility that he might
pardon those who attacked US troops. In contrast,
Maliki said that “those who have no blood of Iraqis
or security forces on their hand, our doors are open
for them.”
Othman said this left “limited scope for
negotiations.”
“In a war or fighting people are going to die. When
you declare a ceasefire it has to take this into
consideration,” he told AFP.
“Those who have killed people in cold blood like
beheadings or car bombings they should not be
pardoned, but in a fighting, in a war people are
going to die. It is part of war.” Othman also said
that refusal by some leaders to acknowledge that
there are resistance groups opposing US-led
occupation in Iraq was also complicating the issue.
A number of Sunni groups, especially from the
western Al-Anbar province, took up arms to oppose
the occupation after the toppling of Saddam Hussein
in 2003. Othman said a few days ago that seven armed
groups had shown interest in negotiating with the
governent on condition that the US-led coalition
propose a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq.
But a foreign diplomat close to the reconciliation
plan expressed doubt Thursday on reports of
negotiations between rebel groups and Iraqi
officials. “Even the American and Iraqi officials
are sceptical about these groups, who they are and
whether they represent and influence the resistance
at the ground level,” he told AFP.
AFP
Top |
® 