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Iraq's Federalism Debate Rages On
22.9.2006
By Emad al-Sharaa in Karbala and Duraed Salman in
Basra (ICR No. 195) |
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Some Shia politicians are
pushing for a southern federal state, but not
everyone is convinced.
The oil fields start on the outskirts of Basra, the
southern city that is home to Iraq’s largest port
and has about 80 per cent of its oil.
But neither the city, on the Persian Gulf about 580
kilometres south of Baghdad, nor the surrounding
area has much to show for their natural wealth. Like
much of the Shia-dominated south, Basra province was
largely neglected by Saddam Hussein's regime, and
today public services remain poor and living
conditions difficult.
The Shia leaders who now run most of the south and
hold the majority of seats in the Iraqi parliament
are hoping to improve conditions in the region by
creating a federal state along the lines of the
autonomous Kurdish region in the north.
The very idea is ruffling feathers among Sunni Arab
leaders, who argue that the shift to federal rather
than unitary will break up Iraq, and in recent weeks
the question has become the most contentious
domestic topic.
Last week, parliament again postponed the debate on
a draft federalism bill submitted by the United
Iraqi Alliance, UIA, the main Shia bloc in
parliament.
The decision to delay the debate came after a new
wave of violence swept the capital Baghdad. There
are fears that taking formal steps towards a federal
system could spark further killings between the
various political and religious factions.
One of the strongest advocates of a federal state in
the south is Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the
Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, SCIRI,
one of the major Shia partners in the UIA bloc. He
says federalism is a “constitutional right” not only
for the Kurds but also for the people of central and
southern Iraq.
“Federalism does not mean splitting the country. It
is a hope for the future of Iraq, and it is a demand
by the masses,” he said recently in Najaf.
Hakim has commissioned his son, Ammar al-Hakim, head
of the Shahid al-Mihrab Institute, a SCIRI
establishment that promotes Islam in southern Iraq,
to mobilise popular support for the federalism
project.
Although Shias are generally considered to favour
greater autonomy for the south, differences are
emerging among the various Shia groupings. This
infighting makes it more and more difficult for the
Shia majority in parliament to arrive at consensus
decisions.
Over the past two months, Ammar al-Hakim has visited
many southern provinces as well as the Kurdistan
region. His trip started in Najaf, a SCIRI
stronghold where much of the population and also
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior
Shia cleric, support the plan for federalism.
In Karbala, another Shia stronghold, people were
less enthusiastic. Here Majid al-Qasimi, a teacher
at the al-Haussa college for religious studies,
accused SCIRI of populism.
“Their insistence on federalism comes after they
have failed to take senior government posts. They do
not have mass support. The majority of the people in
the south back the Sadrists," he said, in a
reference to the movement led by Shia cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr.
In Nasiriya, al-Hakim also met with opposition,
facing a crowd that chanted, "No to federalism, yes
to Muqtada al-Sadr."
The Sadrist bloc and the Dawa party, which is
SCIRI’s major partner in the UIA and is led by
former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, have
recently criticised efforts to push ahead with the
federalism bill.
Hasan al-Rubai, a Sadrist member of parliament, said
his bloc did not oppose federalism in a principle,
“but they oppose applying it while Iraq is still
under occupation".
Others, though, have great expectations of a federal
region.
"We need social welfare in the south to compensate
for its long period of deprivation," said Makki
Muhammed Ali, an official with the Dawa party in
Basra, who believes that raising Basra's standard of
living in a federal structure would help the country
as a whole to "make a huge jump and help Iraq join
the ranks of the developed states".
However, leading Sunni Arab politicians believe that
southern federalism will damage rather than help the
rest of the country. Leaders such as Saleh al-Mutlaq,
a Sunni who rejected Iraq's new constitution in part
over its recognition of the principle of federalism,
have pledged to campaign for a "unified Iraq".
Central and western Iraq – the majority Sunni areas
– lack oil and other profitable resources, and
leaders such as Mutlaq fear that the Sunnis will be
left out if the country's resources are divided up
region by region.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, a senior member of the Sunni
Accord bloc, considers federalism a “threat that
could divide Iraq. We reject it and we will hold on
to the unity of Iraq”.
Article 118 of the Iraqi constitution, approved in a
referendum in October 2005, authorises parliament to
determine the procedures for creating federal
regions. It’s an article that al-Dulaimi thinks
should be reviewed and possibly amended.
In his rejection of federalism he distinguishes
between the Kurdish north where “federalism is
acceptable because of historical, geographic and
ethnic factors”, and the rest of the country where
it would mainly be “on a sectarian basis”.
To him, the solution in central and southern Iraq
could be “to give more authority to the provinces",
in other words to decentralise power to the current
governorates without incorporating them into big
autonomous regions.
But even in Basra, which could profit from a change
in the power balance, not all residents agree with
the idea of federalism.
"It’s an open call for the partitioning of Iraq,"
said Hussein al-Lami, a 52-year-old shopkeeper in
the city.
Lami expressed concern that federalism would leave
political factions with even more autonomy from
central government than they have now. Many Basra
residents, including its Sunni and Christian
minorities, have accused the local authorities of
monopolising power and turning the city into a
virtual Islamic state dependent on Iran.
"We have friends and relatives in central Iraq and
throughout the rest of the country, but having a
Shia state in the south might cut kinship ties among
a lot of people," said Abdul-Sattar al-Rubaie, a
45-year-old doctor in Ammara.
Others, however, hope that a stronger, unified south
would encourage people displaced by Saddam's regime
to return home.
"After our land dried up, we became like chickens
seeking after crumbs. We were forced to crawl away
to the middle and north," said Falah Abid Najim, a
40-year-old farmer in Ammara.
"But make no mistake about it: when our situation
improves in the south, all those who emigrated will
be back."
Emad al-Sharaa and Duraid Salman are IWPR
contributors in Iraq.
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