Sadrists Quit UIC
As reported earlier today and confirmed in the immediately preceding posting the group of MPs in the green zone parliament loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr has withdrawn from the UIC the bloc that is the power base for the green zone government. They will enter into discussions with the Virtue party about a possible “future together” the AFP report below has details:
Sadr group withdraws support to Iraq government
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - The movement of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday withdrew its support for the embattled Iraqi government, delivering a fresh blow to the political process of the country.
The group declared it has withdrawn from the main Shiite bloc that leads the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
“There has been no positive response from the Shiite alliance following which the political committee in the Sadr movement is announcing its withdrawal from the Shiite bloc,” Liwa Sumaysim, head of the political committee of the Sadr group, said at a press conference in the holy city of Najaf.
Sadr MP Gufran Saad had earlier said the movement was quitting the Shiite bloc alliance because it was no longer being consulted about key decisions by other fellow members.
“The alliance has been taking decisions single-handedly without reverting to the member blocs,” Saad said.
The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) initially comprised four key Shiite factions — the Sadr group, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council of Iraq (SIIC), the Dawa party and the Fadhila party — and held 130 of the 275 seats in parliament.
However, the number dropped to 115 when the Fadhila party pulled out in March. The Sadr bloc has 32 seats in parliament.
Sheikh Saleh al-Obeidi, the movement’s spokesman in Najaf, said the group had decided to abandon the government for a number of reasons, including the “investigation of the Karbala” clashes in the shrine city of Karbala.
On August 27, fierce gun battles between militants and police left 52 peopled dead and 300 wounded during a major Shiite pilgrimage in Karbala.
Widespread allegations were made that the fighters who had clashed with the police were Sadr’s Mahdi Army militiamen.
Two days after the fights, Sadr ordered his militia to suspend all its activities for a period of six months.
Obeidi, last week told AFP the Sadrists were considering withdrawing from the bloc because the SIIC and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa had formed another alliance with two Kurdish groups.
“On the one hand they are taking decisions in the bloc, but on the other hand they are plotting another alliance,” said Obeidi.
Under pressure from Washington to bridge the sectarian divide, Maliki and leaders of his Dawa party on August 27 squeezed out a broadbrush deal with two Kurdish groups and SIIC.
They agreed to ease restrictions on former members of Saddam’s Baath party taking up government jobs.
Sadr MP Saad complained that her group had not been included in the negotiations.
“The Sadrist bloc had no information about the new alliance … they do many things without reverting to the blocs,” Saad said.
The Sadr group has already withdrawn its six ministers, including Sumaysim, from Maliki’s government, saying Baghdad had failed to provide basic services to the people.
On Saturday, Obeidi said the Sadrists were now planning to negotiate with the Fadhila party for a possible “future together.”
Iraq’s fractious government is made up of ministers from both sides of the sectarian divide but there are frequent rows between Sunni and Shiite leaders and it has difficulty governing.
Maliki has said he will announce a cabinet reshuffle but has so far not been able to fill the vacant seats left by the Sunni and Shiite ministers.
He is currently running the government with 23 ministers out of an original 40.
The decision of Sadrists to pull out of the Shiite alliance will paralyse Maliki further, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmud Othman.
“The government is on a shaky ground. If somebody moves a no-confidence motion in the parliament then we will know who has how much support,” Othman told AFP.
With the Sadr pullout, Maliki’s government can only count on the support of 136 lawmakers, including 53 from two Kurdish groups. If the Sadr bloc votes against him, it would bring the numbers of MPs who oppose him to 127. The other 12 MPs represent various small parties and could vote either way.
Othman said, however, groups opposing the government are themselves not united.
“There is no agreement within the government as well as within the opposition. Maliki is surviving because there is no alternative. Even the Americans say that,” Othman said.
Among the opponents of Maliki is the Sunni National Concord Front which has regularly accused the Sadr movement of killing Sunni Arabs in the ongoing sectarian warfare.
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