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Call for Shiite autonomy as Iraqi tribal
chiefs meet
26.8.2006 |
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BAGHDAD, August
26 , -- A powerful Iraqi politician called for the
Shiite south of the country to become an autonomous
region as the embattled prime minister called on
tribal leaders to work together for peace.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned a gathering of
tribal sheikhs from across the war-torn country that
Iraq would not be free from foreign occupation until
its rival sects and ethnic groups agreed to live
together.
At the same time one of Iraq's most influential
politicians called for the vast and oil-rich Shiite
region south of the capital to become a
self-governing area stretching from the holy city of
Najaf to the port of Basra.
Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said a
referendum should be called in the region to endorse
a breakaway, an idea which is fiercely opposed by
Sunni leaders.
"Our biggest assurance to our people is that
federalism be implemented in the centre and south of
Iraq," said Hakim, according to a statement issued
by his movement's office in Najaf on Saturday.
"This is a guarantee to our sons and grandsons that
injustice will not be revived," Hakim was quoted as
saying, referring to the period under Iraq's former
Sunni ruler Saddam Hussein, during which Shiites
were persecuted.
Hakim's statement came as Maliki welcomed hundreds
of hereditary chieftains -- the leaders of clans and
tribes to which all Iraqis owe varying degrees of
allegiance -- to talks in Baghdad aimed at halting a
surge in violence.
"Iraq cannot be built by violence, but through
serious dialogue. Liberating our country from the
presence of foreign forces cannot be done without
unity and national consensus," Maliki told
delegates.
"This cannot be done without the role of tribes
which represent the fabric of Iraq ... A tribe
should play an essential role in confronting
terrorism and shut the doors for sectarian
violence," he added.
Calls for autonomous regions put Maliki in a
difficult position as he struggles to hold together
a fractious coalition of national unity.
Federalism has support among his own Shiite
constituency and the Kurdish minority in the north,
which suffered under Saddam's centralised rule, but
is opposed by many Sunnis.
Sunnis fear that an autonomous Shiite south and
Kurdish north would hoard Iraq's oil wealth and fall
under the influence of neighouring Iran, which
allegedly arms militias linked to Shiite political
parties.
Abdulrazak Suleiman, a Sunni tribal leader, called
for federalism to be put on hold for five years and
implicitly accused Shiite militias of receiving
Tehran's support.
"We demand a professional Iraqi army. We should
dismantle militias and prevent neighbouring
countries from interfering in Iraqi affairs," he
told delegates at Saturday's meeting.
He also called for the government to make a
distinction between what he called the "national
resistance" -- insurgents opposed to US forces --
and "takfiris", or Sunni extremists who have killed
civilians.
Some Sunnis want insurgent fighters to be pardoned,
to draw them in to the peace process.
Ali al-Dabagh, a spokesman for Maliki's government,
said it was "too soon to talk of amnesty". He
predicted tribal leaders would Saturday agree on a
joint pronouncement, which would be broadcast on
state television.
Maliki's government is consulting widely in Iraqi
society in preparation for a planned peace
conference which it hopes will bring an end to the
fighting.
Iraq has been plunged into chaos since 2003, when
Saddam was overthrown in a US-led invasion, creating
a power vacuum which has been exploited by religious
militias, insurgents and death squads.
A parliament was elected in December but it was not
until June this year that Maliki named the last
minister in a fragile government of national unity.
Already, his authority has taken a beating from a
wave of sectarian violence which has pitted
extremists from the Shiite majority -- which was
persecuted under Saddam -- against Sunnis -- who
were coddled by his regime.
Health workers say this dirty war of tit-for-tat
bombings and murders accounts for 50 deaths per day
in Baghdad alone, although US commanders believe a
joint US-Iraqi security plan began this month has
stemmed the tide.
Observers warn that if the security and
reconciliation programmes do not deliver rapidly on
their promises, Maliki's government could lose
control of a situation some see as already close to
an all-out civil war.
AFP
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