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Iraq to debate division law as Annan warns
of civil war
19.9.2006 |
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BAGHDAD,
September 19,-- Iraqi lawmakers are set this week to
debate a controversial draft law to divide the
war-torn country into autonomous regions, after UN
chief Kofi Annan voiced fears of all-out civil war.
Shiite MP Jalaluddin al-Saghir told AFP that
political leaders met on Monday and reached an
agreement "to start the first reading of the Shiite
draft law to form regions."
Parliament is likely to debate the draft on Tuesday
or Wednesday.
The draft focuses on mechanisms of how to form the
autonomous regions, although Saghir said there was
an agreement "not to start forming the regions
before the committee on constitutional review ends
its work."
Sunni lawmakers have called for the constitution to
be amended before Shiite plans for a southern
autonomous region are implemented.
Iraq's newly empowered Shiite United Iraqi Alliance
has been pushing to form autonomous regions in the
country's largely Shiite south along the lines of
the Kurdish autonomy in the north.
But the country's former elite Sunni Arabs have
staunchly opposed the law, fearing it would divide
the country and rob them of the vast oil reserves
concentrated in the north and the south of Iraq.
The draft law is backed by the powerful Supreme
Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq although it
has also seen strong opposition from within the UIA.
And last week Shiite leaders had backed down, saying
they might not immediately implement the law even if
it was adopted in principle in parliament.
"We all agree on the principle of federalism, but
some of the factions of the UIA want to delay its
implementation because the atmosphere is not right,"
UIA spokesman Sabah Saedi told AFP.
"The question is not of just adopting and
implementing the law, but of making it a success."
The plans to divde the country come as UN secretary
general Annan warned that immediate steps were
essential to bring Iraq back from the "brink of a
civil war."
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Annan joined
appeals by Iraqi leaders for a quick and massive
international effort to strengthen the embattled
government in Baghdad and "bring Iraq back from the
brink".
"If current patterns of alienation and violence
persist much longer, there is a grave danger that
the Iraqi state will break down, possibly in the
midst of full-scale civil war," Annan said.
Annan's warning came as a wave of violence over the
past week that has left hundreds of people killed in
Baghdad -- the epicentre of Shiite-Sunni sectarian
violence.
Dozens of bodies of men, shot to death
execution-style, are found dumped on the streets of
Baghdad despite a massive security crackdown in the
capital since mid-June.
Insurgent violence has also been unabated.
On Monday, two suicide bombings -- one in the
northern city of Tall Afar and the other in the
western restive city of Ramadi -- left 34 people
dead. At least 38 more were killed across the
country in a series of attacks.
Even as violence in the country surged, US head of
military forces in the Middle East stressed that he
had adequate troops in Iraq.
General George Abizaid said there were enough
reserve forces.
"We don't see a need to commit them to the fight yet
and until those forces are committed, we don't see a
need to ask for more under the present
circumstances," Abizaid said in an interview with US
television network CNN.
The Pentagon said Monday there are currently 147,000
US troops in Iraq, up from a low of about 127,000
troops in June. Pentagon officials have attributed
the increase to an overlap of troops rotating in and
out of the country.
AFP
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