Call for autonomy as Iraqi tribes demand peace

By AFP

08/27/06 "The Peninsula" -- -- BAGHDAD • A powerful Iraqi politician called yesterday for the Shi’ite 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 Shiite 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 yesterday.

"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 Shi’ites 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.

The sheikhs responded with a promise they would persuade their followers to put aside bloodletting, but calls for autonomous regions put Maliki in a difficult position as he struggles to hold together a fractious coalition.

Federalism has strong 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.

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.

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