Calls to divide Iraq on religious-ethnic lines rejected
Iraq, Politics, 8/12/2005

The spokesman for the Iraqi government Leith Kebba rejected the call made by the the leader of the Higher Council For Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, to establish a federal district for the Shiites in Iraq. He said that the idea of founding a Shiite district is not acceptable.

Hakim called yesterday for establishing Iraq on federalism and to establish a district for the Shiites composed of the governorates in the southern and central parts of the country.

In a speech he delivered before a crowd of Iraqis in al-Najaf on the occasion of the second anniversary of the killing of his brother Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, Hakim justified his idea on the existence of what he described as common characteristics linking the people of these governorates, besides they were also subjected to repressive policies of the Saddam Hussein central government.

He explained that in order to maintain political balance in the country, there should be a government of districts, permitted by the constitution.

For his part, the secretary general of the Bader Organization, the military wing of the Higher Council For Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Hadi al-Ameri, said before the same crowd in Najaf that the "the Shiites have to proceed forward in establishing a federation in the south, otherwise they will regret it if they do not." He stressed "we should form the federation in the south in order to guarantee our rights, rights our enemies tried to prevent us from having." He questioned "what he had we received from the central government, except killing?"

The idea also met rejection by Sunni and Shiite Iraqi political forces. The Sunni member in the Iraqi drafting constitution committee Saleh al-Mutlaq said that this idea would cause the beginning of the partitioning of Iraq and perpetuate sectarianism.

He explained that the objective of this idea is to postpone the formulation of the constitution or foil it, so as to perpetuate chaos in Iraq, noting that the idea of creating a Shiite district is rejected by the Iraqi people and is not limited to the Sunnis in the west and east of Iraq, but also by the people of the south.

For his part, the official spokesman for al-Sader group in Baghdad, Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Darraji, said that his group rejects any federalism conducive to the partitioning of Iraq.

The representative for the Arab Sunnis and representatives of other minorities and secular Shiites had earlier rejected the idea of formulating a constitution permitting the Shiite in the south to have a sort of self-rule which the Kurds enjoy in north Iraq at the meantime.

Previous Stories:
  Iraqis on track to finish new constitution, US official says   (8/11/2005)
  Pentagon links withdrawal from Iraq to political, security conditions   (8/11/2005)
  Pentagon to increase forces in Iraq   (8/10/2005)

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