At last, Iraqi Parliament to Debate Federal Break-Up

This is the solution Senator Joesph Biden has been proposing for over a year. The only problem is what reaction Turkey will have regarding the Kurds.---BBB

Iraqi Parliament to Debate Federal Break-Up
By Jay Deshmukh
Agence France-Presse
Tuesday 05 September 2006

Iraq's parliament has reopened after a month-long recess marred by mounting sectarian violence, with deputies slated to discuss breaking up the country into semi-independent regions.

At the top of the agenda was the controversial issue of whether to allow Iraq's provinces to merge into larger autonomous regions, a move which some Sunni lawmakers fear could tear the country apart.

Other groups, however, strongly support a plan which would create virtually independent zones in the oil-rich Shiite south and Kurdish north, and leave the Sunnis economically isolated in the barren western desert.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government struggled to unite Iraq's warring factions and end the ongoing bloodshed.

"I urge all people of goodwill to come forward to support the national reconciliation project, otherwise we will face the worst period in modern Iraqi history," speaker Mahmud Mashhadani said as he opened the session Tuesday.

"We are the elected leaders of Iraq and I'm confident that the terrorists will not succeed in what they do," he said, referring to rival insurgents and militias who kill more than 50 Iraqis in attacks every day.

"In the next few sessions the parliament will discuss the law for the formation of provinces," predicted Abbas al-Bayati, spokesman for the largest Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, which holds 128 seats.

Before the session, Nawzad Saleh, a member of the Kurdish Alliance, said: "There is a draft law being discussed within the coalition to form provinces in accordance with the constitution. Informal discussions have begun."

A leading Sunni lawmaker, Alaa Maki, confirmed the issue was on the agenda, and appeared to signal that his group's opposition was softening.

"We will give our opinion on federalism to parliament soon," he said. "But we do not object to the administrative application of federalism for better administration under the supervision of a strong central government."

While the assembly's 275 members gathered at the parliament building in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Bayati noted that under Iraq's new constitution, the issue of federalism must be put forth before September 16.

It was not high on Tuesday's agenda however. Instead, deputies rubber-stamped the renewal of Iraq's state of emergency until October 1, under which the government has broad powers to fight unrest.

Most lawmakers nominally support a fragile national unity coalition headed by Maliki, who is struggling to impose his authority on a strife-torn country.

But virtually all parliament members represent parties divided on strict ethnic and sectarian lines, and many political parties also enjoy the tacit or open support of militia forces engaged in Iraq's current bloody conflict.

Two issues are likely to generate angry debate, one being the federalist proposal.

The Kurdish north has enjoyed broad self-rule for 15 years, allowing it to escape the worst of the violence plaguing Arab areas, and is virtually united behind demands for this to be legally enshrined.

Many Shiite leaders - some allegedly encouraged by neighbouring Iran - also want to split away areas in central and south Iraq which hold holy Shiite shrines and pilgrimage sites as well as rich oil fields.

Sunnis, who prospered under Saddam Hussein's ousted regime while the others suffered his repression, generally favour a strongly centralised Iraq that would guarantee their rights as a minority.

Another issue likely to generate heat is that of the national flag, which the president of the autonomous Kurdish region, Massud Barzani, has refused to fly, arguing that it represents the Saddam's regime.

Sunni lawmakers issued a statement before parliament opened calling on Kurds to accept the flag as an interim measure while parliament debates the design of a new symbol acceptable to all Iraqis.

This was unlikely to placate the Kurds, however.

Later in the day, Britain's Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett was due to meet Maliki and President Jalal Talabani for talks on security, a day after two British soldiers were killed in southern Iraq.