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Some
Iraqi Militias Disbanded, Others Outlawed
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"I
am happy to announce today the successful completion of negotiations on
the nationwide transition and reintegration of militias," Allawi said
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BAGHDAD,
June 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqi interim Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi declared Monday, June 7, that a deal has been
reached to disband nine Iraqi militias, effectively outlawing major
groups resisting the U.S.-led occupation.
The
nine Iraqi militias declared by Allawi to have agreed to disband as
part of the deal do not include the Shiite and Sunni groups
responsible for the bulk of the latest attacks against the occupation
forces.
"I
am happy to announce today the successful completion of negotiations
on the nationwide transition and reintegration of militias and other
armed forces previously outside of state control," Allawi said in
a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
agreement was reached with nine political parties, most of them
participants in the new Iraqi government.
Those
outside the occupation's political process like Shiite leader Moqtada
Sadr scorned the deal.
Officials
of the U.S.-led occupation made clear the order, referred to as CPA
(Coalition Provisional Authority) order 91, approved by the
pro-U.S. Prime Minister Allawi ,
leaves Sadr's militia and other resistance movements fighting the
Americans effectively outside the law.
The
religious firebrand, whose followers have a battled the occupation
forces for the past two months, faces a three-year ban from political
office if he ever leaves his Mehdi Army militia.
The
order bars any former militia member from serving in political office
for three years. It makes a distinction for the nine parties, calling
them resistance groups against Saddam Hussein.
The
groups were listed by Allawi as: Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP);
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK); the Sunni-based Iraqi Islamic
Party; the Shiite Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
and its Badr Brigade militia; the Prime Minister's own Iraqi National
Accord (INA); Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC); the
Shiite-based Iraqi Hezbollah; the Iraqi Communist Party, and the
Shiite Dawa party.
An
occupation official told reporters that Dawa, the INC and INA claim
that they have already dissolved their militias other than small
security forces deployed to protect their leaders.
Those
small forces will be disbanded and turned into private security firms
that could be hired to guard political parties or reconstruction
projects, the official said, according to AFP.
The
law promises punishment for any political party whose militia picks up
arms again. The penalties are to be announced in legislation later
this month.
The
deal, in the works since February, aims to have 90 percent of the
militias decommissioned by January and the remainder phased out by the
spring, Allawi said.
Implementation
Implementation,
however, depends on the formation of an Iraqi government oversight
committee to ensure that the groups, including Iraq's main Shiite and
Kurdish parties, truly disband and hand in all arms.
According
to Allawi, about 40 percent of the decommissioned forces would become
ordinary civilians and another 60 percent would join "the Iraqi
armed forces, the Iraqi police service, or the internal security
services of the Kurdish regional government".
The
Kurdish regional government, in the northern provinces of
Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk, would most likely absorb the estimated
70,000 to 75,000 Kurdish militia fighters of the KDP and PUK, commonly
known as peshmerga.
The
new Kurdish security units are slated to be mountain rangers and
counter-terrorism units and quick-reaction forces.
The
40-odd percent of former militiamen returning to civilian life would
benefit from professional training in other fields and from similar
welfare to that granted to retired soldiers.
The
years spent serving in a militia will be validated to work out
pensions, while widowers, orphans and former militiamen suffering from
an invalidity would be entitled to benefits.
The
U.S.-led occupation had already formally outlawed militias under
Iraq's interim constitution.
Still,
occupation officials admitted they could not guarantee the groups
would not violate the agreement, and militiamen in the new security
forces would not retain their old loyalties, according to AFP.
"If
you give them a new job,... you give them a new purpose. And over
time, those connections don't go away but hopefully they are just like
any other," an occupation official said.
"But
I'm not going to tell you that's going to happen tomorrow because we
all know it's not. If the political situation and the security
situation stay stable, it will happen."
Another
occupation official told AFP many of the militias, including the Badr
Organization, with an estimated 15,000 members, had initially been
reluctant to sign onto the deal.
The
Badr Organization only decided to commit after its rival Sadr and his
movement revolted against the U.S.-led occupation in April.
"When
they saw the Mehdi Army uprising, I think that was a big factor. They
decided they wanted to be on the side the law," the official
said.
Allawi's
announcement is the first practical step to dissolve the armed bands.
For
some of those affected by the measure, notably the Kurdish militias in
the north, the new deal should involve little more than a change of
uniform.
In
the south, the Badr Organization will likely have a heavy presence in
the security forces, but it will monitored by the U.S.-led
multi-national forces, an occupation official said.
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