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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
IRAQ: Disarmament of militias - precondition for peace, say analysts
BAGHDAD, 18 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - A delay by the defence ministry in implementing a national disarmament campaign could lead to increasing sectarian violence and allow illegal militias to justify their violent roles, warned one Baghdad-based political analyst.
“The government has proposed the [disarmament] plan, but it hasn’t begun to proceed,” said Lt. Col. Khalid Jua’ad, a professor at the Institute for Military and Strategic Studies in the capital. “Militias must be disarmed to stop sectarian violence. This is even more important than pardoning insurgents, which has also been proposed by the prime minister.”
Abdul Kareem al-Yassin, member of major Sunni party the National Concord Front, echoed this view. “They must begin disarming militias to prevent sectarian violence from spreading,” said al-Yassin. “As long as illegal groups have weapons, they’ll believe they can attack whoever they want.”
The move to disarm militias comes as part of a national reconciliation plan proposed by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on 25 June. Many armed Iraqi factions, however, have rejected the proposal.
Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Shi’ite militia known as the Mehdi Army, has already stated his refusal to disarm his Badr Brigades militia. “Without our guns we’ll become weak and lose power, while other groups will join forces with the national security forces,” said an al-Sadr spokesman. “We’ll disarm when we see that everyone else has been disarmed too.”
Hassan Ali, a Badr Brigade fighter, agreed with this assessment. “With the ongoing sectarian violence, it’s impossible for us to put down our guns and depend on protection from the national security forces,” he said.
Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Muhammad Army, one of the biggest Sunni militias in the country, insisted that an end to the US occupation of Iraq come before any talk of disarmament. “We’ll not lay down our guns until we’re sure that US forces will leave our country,” he said. “And if they give us a timetable and don’t keep their word, the situation will become critical.”
Meanwhile, violence continues to sweep the country on a daily basis. According to health ministry officials, nearly 1,600 corpses were examined in June alone. An estimated 80 percent of these were civilians who were killed in July, many of them showing signs of having been tortured.
In an effort to quell the fighting, the national reconciliation plan recommends that armed forces be made independent of the influence of political powers and militias and illegal armed groups be disbanded.
According to Brig. Abdul Azize Muhammad, a senior defence ministry official, the plan is ready for implementation. “We have our own security forces – we don’t need militias,” he said. “We’re going to start the disarmament process soon, because these groups just promote terrorism.”
Senior officials in President Jalal Talabani’s cabinet, meanwhile, said that disarmament talks with several insurgent groups had already begun, but could not give further details. US military sources pledged to help Baghdad implement the plan.
AS/SZ/AM
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
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