By Dexter Filkins and Kirk Semple
New York Times
07 June 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 7 — American and Iraqi officials said today they had received commitments from nine of the largest independent militias to disband, as part of a process the officials here said would rid Iraq of any private armed groups by the end of next year.
The announcement was made by the new prime minister, Ayad Allawi. It followed weeks of negotiations with the leaders of the nine of the largest militias, which together are thought to have more 100,000 soldiers, nearly all of whom are operating outside any governmental control.
But there were indications that not all of the militias named in the agreement believed themselves to be part of it, and that carrying out the policy might prove more difficult than the writing of it.
Two of the largest armed groups operating inside the country were not included in the agreement: the Mahdi Army, the radical Shiite group that American soldiers have been battling for weeks, and the Falluja Brigade, a force of ex-Republican Guard soldiers and anti-American insurgents cobbled together last month to end the fighting there.
One indication of the difficulties ahead came this morning, when a senior leader of the one of the nine militias was shot dead by unknown assailants in Baghdad.
Under the agreement, the militia leaders agreed to a plan that would transfer their soldiers to the Iraqi police, army and other security services according to specific timetables that will gradually reduce the size of the private armies over time.
Militia fighters will qualify for pensions as if they were members of the regular army. Those who don't want to stay will get job training. All told, the program is expected to cost $200 million.
Many Iraqis and Americans have long expressed fears here that the militias, if left unchecked, could derail the democratic elections scheduled for next year or lay the groundwork for civil war.
Mr. Allawi, who was named prime minister a week ago, said the agreement would help strengthen the authority of the new Iraqi government that is preparing to take over from the Americans on June 30.
"The completion of these negotiations and the issuance of this order mark a watershed in establishing the rule of law, placing all armed forces under state control and strengthening the security of Iraq," Mr. Allawi said from the steps of his office, inside the fortified American compound known as the Green Zone.
Indeed, Mr. Allawi, who is also the head of the Iraqi National Accord, a political party, said he had already disbanded the army under his control shortly after the fall of Mr. Hussein's government last year.
"We don't have any armed militias anymore," Mr. Alawi said of the I.N.A.
American officials said they had secured agreements to disband from the nine largest armed groups, three of which, they said, held the overwhelming majority of fighters: the two Kurdish political parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party, which have about 75,000 fighters; and the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of a mainstream Shiite political party, which has about 15,000 fighters.
Six other groups are thought to deploy much smaller armies. Iraqi Hezbollah, a Shiite group; the Iraqi Communist Party; ad the Iraqi Islamic Party, which together are thought to have about 12,000 fighters. In addition to the I.N.A., the militias of two other political parties have told the Americans that they have disbanded: the Dawa Party, one of the country's largest Shiite parties; and the Iraqi National Congress, best known for its leader, Ahmed Chalabi.
The development came amid continuing violence in Iraq today. In Kufa, an arms dump exploded near the town's main mosque, where a radical Shiite cleric presides, officials said. The cause of the detonations was not immediately known.
At least one rebel fighter was killed and nine were wounded, witnesses and hospital sources told Reuters. The American military said in a news release that no American troops were in the area at the time of the explosion and that Iraqi police who had responded to the explosions were repelled by "unknown attackers" inside the mosque.
For weeks this spring, the mosque was the site of clashes between American troops and forces loyal to the radical cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. But the town has been calm since last week, when Mr. Sadr and the American authorities agreed to a cease-fire there and in nearby Najaf.
Riyadh Moussa, a militiaman who had been sleeping in the mosque compound, told The Associated Press that he had heard a "whoosh of a missile in the air" and a thud when a projectile hit the arms storage area.
"I'm sure it was the Americans who did it," he said. "We have no other enemies."
An American soldier was killed and two were wounded today when a roadside bomb exploded near Iskandariyah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, Agence France-Presse reported, quoting a military spokeswoman. American troops shot an unknown number of suspects fleeing the scene, the spokeswoman added.
The developments came a day after bomb blasts killed at least 21 people in a car bombing at a military base north of Baghdad and at an Iraqi police station 40 miles to the south.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting from New York for this article.
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Citation: Dexter Filkins and Kirk Semple, "9 Militias to Disband in Iraq, but Not Rebel Cleric's Force," New York Times, 7 June 2004.
Original URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/07/international/middleeast/07CND-IRAQ.html?hp
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