By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
The Associated Press, 10 October 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi political parties have agreed that every security checkpoint in Baghdad will have an equal number of Shiite and Sunni troops in an effort to ensure the security forces do not allow sectarian attacks, officials said Tuesday.
The arrangement was the first reached under a new four-point security plan announced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a week ago. It is aimed at uniting the divided parties behind security efforts to stop Shiite-Sunni killings that have killed thousands in Baghdad this year.
Al-Maliki's plan called for the creation of local Shiite-Sunni committees that will oversee policing in each district of Baghdad, reporting back to a Central Committee for Peace and Security to coordinate with the security forces and the prime minister.
The effort to balance the checkpoints that dot the streets of Baghdad underlines the deep mistrust between Shiites and Sunnis within al-Maliki's government. Each side accuses the other of backing militias, and Sunnis in particular say the Shiite-dominated police force often allows Shiite militias to carry out kidnappings and murders.
The United States has shown increasing impatience with the failure of al-Maliki's national unity government to end the sectarian violence. U.S. officials say the sectarian threat is now greater than the three-year-old Sunni-led insurgency.
In talks on Saturday, the parties agreed on the make-up of the Central Committee, said a member of the new committee, Bassem Sherif, who will represent the Shiite Fadila party.
The Central Committee includes four representatives each from the Shiite coalition that dominates parliament and the main Sunni coalition, along with one representative each from the Kurds and the Iraqi List, a mixed, secular party, Sherif said.
The parties also agreed that each checkpoint in Baghdad will be manned by an equal number of Sunni and Shiite troops, whether police or military, "so no violations can take place," said al-Hassan al-Shimmari, a spokesman and lawmaker from the Shiite Fadila party.
For example, the troops at a checkpoint can keep an eye on each other to ensure neither side lets by a Shiite or a Sunni armed group to carry out an attack or covers up for a militia after an attack, he said.
Sherif and another participant in the negotiations, Khalaf al-Alayan, head of the Sunni National Dialogue Council party, confirmed the details.
Sunnis in particular often accuse the Shiite-dominated police force of turning a blind eye when Shiite militias carry out a kidnapping or killing.
The Central Committee will meet in the coming days to work with the Interior and Defense ministries on arranging the balanced checkpoints, Sherif said.
But he said the slaying on Monday of the brother of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, the most prominent Sunni politician, could delay the meeting. Sunni Arabs blame Shiite militias for his murder. "The killing is making things tenser between everyone," Sherif said.
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Citation: Qassim Abdul-Zahra. "Iraqi parties work out security details," The Associated Press, 10 October 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_sectarian_violence
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