By Bassem Mroue
The Associated Press, 19 November 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's Shiite-led government has deeply undercut its promises to work toward sectarian reconciliation with a series of recent measures that prompted Sunni threats to leave the government and take up arms.
The government's actions — and the Sunni response — have dimmed hopes for a national reconciliation to keep Iraq's vicious sectarian violence from erupting into an all-out civil war.
Sunnis say Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is not serious about disbanding Shiite militias, has done nothing about creating a more fair division of power and is balking at legislation that would divide the country's oil wealth equitably among all regions.
Sunni-dominated territories in the center and west of the country are largely desert expanses and fertile strips of land along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — without oil resources.
In a major escalation of tensions, the Shiite interior minister issued an arrest warrant against Sheik Harith al-Dhari, the Sunnis' most influential leader who heads the Association of Muslim Scholars. The Sunni leader was accused of inciting violence and terrorism.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh quickly sought to defuse the crisis, saying the warrant was only designed to begin an investigation, not lead to al-Dhari's arrest. But the damage was done.
The largest Sunni group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, called the arrest warrant "a mercy bullet" that killed a flawed reconciliation plan. Demonstrations broke out in Sunni cities nationwide and politicians and clerics issued condemnations, some even calling for al-Maliki to resign.
On Sunday, about 1,000 people demonstrated in Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, carrying banners reading "the campaign against al-Dhari is a campaign against all Iraqis" and "Al-Dhari is the symbol of the resistance."
Sunni politicians have been threatening in recent weeks to walk out of the government and parliament and take up arms, which could end hopes of preventing an all-out civil war.
On Friday, Al-Dhari's scholars association put its imprimatur on a walkout.
But not all Sunnis were prepared to abandon the political process. Ayad al-Samaraie, of the main Sunni parliamentary bloc, said "the solution is not to take a negative stance. The solution is to create a new political foundation that keeps things from getting worse."
The bloc, known as the Iraqi Accordance Front, called for the government to repeal the arrest warrant and take action toward reconciliation. It also demanded the release of dozens of people missing since they were apparently kidnapped by Shiite militiamen from an education ministry office Tuesday.
Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni, said he discussed the arrest warrant with al-Maliki, who said the crisis developed because information was "explained in a wrong way" — an indirect criticism of the interior minister.
Sunni groups and politicians said the arrest warrant marked the end of the national reconciliation program that al-Maliki presented in June. The prime minister had offered amnesty to members of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency who were not involved in "terrorist activities." He had also vowed to disarm the Shiite militias who have killed thousands.
Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's secular Iraqi National Accord also criticized the warrant, calling it an example of the government's policy of marginalizing "national, political, social and religious symbols."
"Iraq is witnessing dangerous developments, and as the reconciliation process is not working, we call all the sides to resort to constructive dialogue and put an end to random revenge," Allawi's group said.
The arrest order came five weeks after the leader of a small Sunni Arab party had his parliamentary immunity stripped after being accused of embezzling funds intended for a force protecting oil pipelines in northern Iraq. The leader, Mishan al-Jabouri, fled to
Syria.
"Reconciliation has become part of the past," al-Jabouri told The Associated Press in Damascus.
He questioned what al-Maliki thought the Shiites would have done if Iraq's Sunni defense minister had ordered the arrest of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the top Shiite cleric in the country.
"What would the Shiites do then? Would they accept that?"
Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin in Iraq, Albert Aji in Syria and Dale Gavlak in Jordan contributed to this story.
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Citation: Bassem Mroue. "Iraq's Shiite-led gov't angers Sunnis," The Associated Press, 19 November 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_angry_sunnis_1
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