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First UK politician Plaid Cymru to call
for the partition of Iraq
1.10.2007
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Plaid
Cymru MP calls for Iraq to be split to ensure peace
October
1, 2007
UK, -- Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price has become
one of the first UK politicians to call for the
partition of Iraq.
He has come to the conclusion Iraq has no future as
a “unitary state” in which Sunni and Shia Muslims
and Kurds will share power.
Convinced that the ethnic groups cannot be forced to
live together, Mr Price favours either a confederal
system or outright independence for the communities.
The Kurdistan region in 'northern Iraq', he argues,
enjoys de facto independence.
Mr Price believes unless Iraq is formally divided,
violent elements within the minority Sunnis will
continue to attempt to regain the dominance of the
region they enjoyed during the rule of Saddam
Hussein.
He said, “The Shia, having suffered decades of
repression, are using their majority position for
all its worth.”
The Bush administration has opposed the break-up of
Iraq but supporters of division scored a major
victory last week when the US Senate passed a
non-binding resolution in favour of a federal model.
Mr Price – a vociferous opponent of the war who led
a parliamentary effort to impeach former Prime
Minister Tony Blair – is adamant that the time has
come for the US and Britain to give up efforts to
preserve Iraq as a nation state.
He said, “We shouldn’t try and force existing
borders [on the Iraqis] if lives are being lost.”
Managed progress to partition is preferable to
continued sectarian warfare, he argues – though he
acknowledges the creation of new countries in a
volatile and oil-rich region may not promote
stability in the immediate term.
Key opponents of partition include the Turkish
government, which fears an independent Kurdish state
could destabilise border areas which are home to
large numbers of ethnic Kurds.
Debate also continues about how Iraq’s oil would be
divided among the different groups. Control of
Baghdad – the multiethnic capital – will be one of
the most contentious subjects in any future
negotiations.
Despite the immense challenges posed by partition,
Mr Price said that opponents of sectarian division
needed a “reality check”.
He said, “It’s going to happen sooner or later.”
Rather than allowing a full-scale civil war to
develop, he wants the work of dividing the country
to begin now.
The MP said, “There will be minority communities
however you would eventually draw up any map. You
would still need a peace and reconciliation at a
local, regional and communal level.”
The eventual collapse of Yugoslavia into former
states involved great violence but brought an end to
vicious killing of minorities, he contended.
“If that hadn’t happened those conflicts would have
gone on far, far longer and been far bloodier,” he
said.
ic wales.co.uk
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