Monday, April 30, 2007
Basra miltias prepare to battle for power
Security
(Azzaman) - Rival factions in the southern city of Basra have mobilized their armed militias for what many residents expect to be a ferocious fight over control of the provincial council. Residents are hoarding essentials with sporadic clashes between the factions intensifying in the past three days in which various weapons were used.
As armed groups fortify positions in major streets and amid heavily populated areas the occupying British troops charged with security have so far shown little concern. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has not move a finger to contain the spiral of violence in the city which could easily spread to other areas.
The Basra Islamic Front, an umbrella for five Islamist groups, is reported to have deployed nearly 7,000 armed men in the city in a bid to force current governor Mohammed al-Waili to quit. Waili belongs to the rival Fadhila faction whose armed men are guarding the governor’s headquarters in the city and vowing to fight off the attackers.
Basra is the capital of the predominantly Muslim Shiite province of the same name. There are fears that the growing tension may adversely affect the country’s oil output. Basra oil fields are crucial to the country’s exports with output form the northern oil fields of Kirkuk shrinking. The Fadhila party of governor Waili is reported to be in control of Iraq’s Southern Oil Company which administers the province’s oil output. Fadhila supporters hold key positions in the industry and analysts say the current feud is more over control of oil than the provincial council.
As armed groups fortify positions in major streets and amid heavily populated areas the occupying British troops charged with security have so far shown little concern. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has not move a finger to contain the spiral of violence in the city which could easily spread to other areas.
The Basra Islamic Front, an umbrella for five Islamist groups, is reported to have deployed nearly 7,000 armed men in the city in a bid to force current governor Mohammed al-Waili to quit. Waili belongs to the rival Fadhila faction whose armed men are guarding the governor’s headquarters in the city and vowing to fight off the attackers.
Basra is the capital of the predominantly Muslim Shiite province of the same name. There are fears that the growing tension may adversely affect the country’s oil output. Basra oil fields are crucial to the country’s exports with output form the northern oil fields of Kirkuk shrinking. The Fadhila party of governor Waili is reported to be in control of Iraq’s Southern Oil Company which administers the province’s oil output. Fadhila supporters hold key positions in the industry and analysts say the current feud is more over control of oil than the provincial council.
Labels: Basra, Basra Islamic Front, Fadhela party, militias, Mohammed al-Waili, oil, provincial counsil, Southern Oil Company
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Fadhela party accuses al-Sadr of plotting a regional coup
Oil, Security
(UPI) - Political and sectarian fighting in Iraq's oil capital, Basra, intensifies, threatening most of Iraq's oil production and all its oil exports. Basra is majority Shiite and, as the central city of the vast majority of Iraq's oil reserves and the largest port where nearly all its oil exports are sent from, equally as important to Iraq as Baghdad. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, and production is struggling at around 2 million barrels per day. Oil sales make up 93 percent of Iraq's budget.
The local government is controlled by the Fadhila Party. Its biggest competitor is the alliance led by Moqtada Sadr. The two sides launched bitter and violent battles against each other over the past weeks. On Monday a large demonstration was held in Basra demanding Muhammad Masbah al Waili, the Fadhila Party governor of Basra province, resign. Sadr and his Mahdi Army deny involvement in the rally and subsequent campaign for Waili to step down.
Regardless, it "marks a new escalation in intra-Shiite tensions, which will expose government institutions and energy infrastructures in the southern provinces to serious security risks," Rochdi Younsi, analyst for Middle East and Africa for the business risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a new report.
The local government is controlled by the Fadhila Party. Its biggest competitor is the alliance led by Moqtada Sadr. The two sides launched bitter and violent battles against each other over the past weeks. On Monday a large demonstration was held in Basra demanding Muhammad Masbah al Waili, the Fadhila Party governor of Basra province, resign. Sadr and his Mahdi Army deny involvement in the rally and subsequent campaign for Waili to step down.
Regardless, it "marks a new escalation in intra-Shiite tensions, which will expose government institutions and energy infrastructures in the southern provinces to serious security risks," Rochdi Younsi, analyst for Middle East and Africa for the business risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a new report.
Sadr says Waili and the Fadhila Party in Basra are corrupt, including involvement in oil smuggling that has cost the Iraqi government billions of dollars in oil revenues and worsened the fuel shortage in the country. Local tribal leaders also back that accusation, Younsi wrote. Fadhila accuses Sadr of planning a violent regional coup, including taking control of the Southern Oil Company. "Local oil infrastructures could be exposed to a higher security risk as the Shiite community in the south becomes more fragmented," Younsi wrote.
Labels: Basra, corruption, coup, Fadhela party, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Muhammad Masbah al Waili, oil, Southern Oil Company, violence
