Friday, September 22, 2006
Shias disagree on federalism
Politics
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, SCIRI, one of the major Shia parties in the UIA bloc, continues to support the draft legislation his party put forward. "Federalism does not mean splitting the country. It is a hope for the future of Iraq, and it is a demand by the masses," he said recently in Najaf. The Sadrist bloc and the Dawa party – both part of the UIA, have criticised the move. Meanwhile, Hakim has commissioned his son, Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Shahid al-Mihrab Institute, a SCIRI establishment that promotes Islam in southern Iraq, to mobilise popular support for the federalism project.
Although Shias are generally considered to favour greater autonomy for the south, differences are emerging among the various Shia groupings. This infighting makes it more and more difficult for the Shia majority in parliament to arrive at consensus decisions.
Over the past two months, Ammar al-Hakim has visited many southern provinces as well as the Kurdistan region. His trip started in Najaf, a SCIRI stronghold where much of the population and also Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, support the plan for federalism. In Karbala, another Shia stronghold, people were less enthusiastic and some accused SCIRI of populism. In Nasiriya, al-Hakim also met with opposition, facing a crowd that chanted, "No to federalism, yes to Muqtada al-Sadr."
However, leading Sunni Arab politicians believe that southern federalism will damage rather than help the rest of the country. Leaders such as Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni who rejected Iraq's new constitution in part over its recognition of the principle of federalism, have pledged to campaign for a "unified Iraq". Adnan al-Dulaimi, a senior member of the Sunni Accord bloc, considers federalism a "threat that could divide Iraq. We reject it and we will hold on to the unity of Iraq".
Article 118 of the Iraqi constitution, approved in a referendum in October 2005, authorises parliament to determine the procedures for creating federal regions. It's an article that al-Dulaimi thinks should be reviewed and possibly amended.
In his rejection of federalism he distinguishes between the Kurdish north where "federalism is acceptable because of historical, geographic and ethnic factors", and the rest of the country where it would mainly be "on a sectarian basis". To him, the solution in central and southern Iraq could be "to give more authority to the provinces", in other words to decentralise power to the current governorates without incorporating them into big autonomous regions.
Although Shias are generally considered to favour greater autonomy for the south, differences are emerging among the various Shia groupings. This infighting makes it more and more difficult for the Shia majority in parliament to arrive at consensus decisions.
Over the past two months, Ammar al-Hakim has visited many southern provinces as well as the Kurdistan region. His trip started in Najaf, a SCIRI stronghold where much of the population and also Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, support the plan for federalism. In Karbala, another Shia stronghold, people were less enthusiastic and some accused SCIRI of populism. In Nasiriya, al-Hakim also met with opposition, facing a crowd that chanted, "No to federalism, yes to Muqtada al-Sadr."
However, leading Sunni Arab politicians believe that southern federalism will damage rather than help the rest of the country. Leaders such as Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni who rejected Iraq's new constitution in part over its recognition of the principle of federalism, have pledged to campaign for a "unified Iraq". Adnan al-Dulaimi, a senior member of the Sunni Accord bloc, considers federalism a "threat that could divide Iraq. We reject it and we will hold on to the unity of Iraq".
Article 118 of the Iraqi constitution, approved in a referendum in October 2005, authorises parliament to determine the procedures for creating federal regions. It's an article that al-Dulaimi thinks should be reviewed and possibly amended.
In his rejection of federalism he distinguishes between the Kurdish north where "federalism is acceptable because of historical, geographic and ethnic factors", and the rest of the country where it would mainly be "on a sectarian basis". To him, the solution in central and southern Iraq could be "to give more authority to the provinces", in other words to decentralise power to the current governorates without incorporating them into big autonomous regions.
