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Iraq

Mookie lambasts call for federalism

2007-10-16

Powerful Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr came out fiercely against federalism yesterday a day after a leading Shi’ite politician said Iraq should be split into semi-autonomous regions based on sect and ethnicity. To demand federalism is to flirt with a non-binding US Senate resolution calling for a devolution of power to three self-governing regions — for Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds, Sadr’s office said here. To small a playpen for him? On Saturday Ammar Hakim, son of Abdel Aziz Al Hakim, leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), called dividing the country “an Iraqi interest, wish and decision. “I call on this holy day for the people of my country to form (self-governing) regions, starting with the region south of Baghdad,” Ammar Hakim said. Responding to his comments, Sadr’s office said that the movement’s opposition to federalism “is firm and has not been changed”. “After the US Congress voted to divide Iraq, it is clear that insisting on applying federalism in the current tragic Iraqi situation is a flirtation with” the US Congress resolution, Sadr’s spokesman Sheikh Saleh Al Obeidi said.

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Iraq

US forces detain son of senior Iraqi Shia leader

2007-02-24

NAJAF, Iraq - US forces held Ammar al-Hakim, son of one of the country’s most powerful Shia leaders, for several hours on Friday as he was returning from Iran, sparking anger in the tense Iraqi Shia heartland. Najaf Governor Assaad Abu Gilel had warned when news of the detention began to spread: “If Ammar A lHakim is not released that will lead to dangerous consequences for Iraq.” Later members of his party said he had been freed. “He was released with his security guards, and I have talked to him. He told me he was unharmed,” said Nazar Al Malali, a member of the Najaf provincial council and a senior member of Hakim’s party. Ammar al-Hakim is the son of Abdel Aziz Al Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI), a powerful Shia party that is one of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s main coalition partners. Members of the elder Hakim’s party told AFP that Ammar’s convoy had been stopped near the Mehran border crossing with Iran, 130 kilometres (70 miles) east of Baghdad, on a road to the Shia city of Kut. Just checking in with his controller, was he?

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Iraq

Call for Shia autonomy as Iraqi tribes demand peace

2006-08-27

BAGHDAD -A powerful Iraqi politician called on Saturday for the Shia south of the country to become an autonomous region as tribal leaders vowed 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. His initiative led to a “pact of honour” between the traditional leaders to work together to halt Iraq’s slide towards all-out sectarian war. But at the same time, one of Iraq’s most influential politicians called for the vast, oil-rich Shia region south of Baghdad 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 Shias were persecuted.

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Iraq

Iraqi Shia holy city will form local militias: official

2006-08-16

NAJAF, Iraq - The deputy governor of Iraq’s Shia province of Najaf said Tuesday that local militias will boost the region’s security after a recent suicide bomb attack killed 35 people. “We started today forming a committee in Najaf to choose individuals who will control security in their neighbourhoods and keep an eye on all suspect movements in their areas,” deputy governor Abdul Hussain Abtan told AFP. “This will be done in collaboration with security forces in the city and is the first step in activating popular committees.” So is the milita a part of or outside of the government? That'll tell us a fair bit about whether the Shi'a really want a civil war and their own state. Abtan belongs to powerful Shia party, the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), whose chief Abdel Aziz Al Hakim had called for setting up such committees after the bombing on Thursday. Last week, Aziz demanded the right to inaugurate the rule of popular committees in areas to give people a chance to defend themselves. His demand was echoed by the movement of Shia radical leader Moqtada Sadr. Both groups want to form Shia self-defence committees, a move that would undermine the authority of Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, who has vowed to disarm militias.

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