Basra
Splits Between Warring Shias
By Ali al-Fadhily
21 April, 2007
Inter
Press Service
BASRA, Apr 20 (IPS)
- Oil-rich Basra in the south of Iraq is getting caught up
in an increasingly more fierce battle between warring Shia groups.
Basra, the second largest
city in Iraq with a population of 2.6 million, is the capital city of
the southern Basra province, and Iraq's main port. The largest explored
oil reserves in the country lie within the province.
A group led by anti-occupation
Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who recently ordered his politicians to
quit the Iraqi government in a defiance of the U.S.-led occupation,
has said his group will no more accept Basra Governor Mohammad al-Wai'ili
because he is a member of the Shia al-Fadhila Party.
Al-Fadhila withdrew from
the ruling Shia political coalition in March. Al-Fadhila leaders said
they refused to participate in sectarian politics. The party has declared
it will continue as an independent bloc.
Despite the fact that both
groups have ordered withdrawal of their representatives from the Iraqi
government, they remain at odds.
The Sadr group is vying for
greater control of cities in southern Iraq, and is suspected of ties
to the Iranian government. Al-Fadhila opposes this policy. The governor
also rejects Iran-backed meddling within Iraq's Shia political groups.
Sadr has a huge following
in Iraq, estimated in the millions, and his militia is one of the most
powerful in the country. Al-Fadhila has a smaller base, armed or otherwise.
But the positions on Iran
are not all clear and consistent, and several positions are taken in
response to personalities rather than policies.
Sadr has been at odds with
Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who has close ties to Iranian
religious leaders. The Fadhila Party is no friend either to Sistani,
who continues to bless the disintegrating Iraqi government.
But some broad similarities
of position have not eased differences between the two groups.
"Our party offices have
received threats of attacks, and we take such threats seriously,"
a senior al-Fadhila leader told IPS on condition of anonymity. "It
is all because we would not continue the mistake of dividing government
posts by sectarian standards."
The party says it is working
for a unified Iraq, and accused the government, which until recently
had Sadr representatives, of playing sectarian politics in Iraq. Sadr
also speaks for a unified Iraq, but his Mehdi Army continues to attack
Sunnis, particularly in Baghdad.
Muqtada al-Sadr recently
called on his followers to demonstrate against the Basra Governor. An
estimated 2,000 people joined the demonstration, far fewer than Sadr
had expected.
"Those who follow the
call of al-Sadr are not so many in Basra city," high school headmaster
Muhammad Hussein told IPS. He blamed trouble-makers on all sides. "Only
gangsters who are interested in looting the government's property would
benefit from the chaos."
The last few weeks have seen
several clashes between armed men from each group. In one instance gunmen
believed to be from al-Sadr's Mehdi Army raided an office of the al-
Fadhila party.
"It is not our dispute,"
Kathum Fadhil from the port authority in Basra told IPS. "It is
simply a fight between thieves, so should we take part in it?"
A statement from a group
of Arab tribes in the south expressed support for Grand Ayatollah al-Yaaqubi,
religious advisor to al-Fadhila.
The tribes said they would
back Yaaqubi against "Persian authority", referring to al-Sistani.
Al-Yaaqubi is Iraqi, while al-Sistani moved to Najaf from Iran in 1953.
Misgivings about Iranian
meddling seem to be rising. "Iranians are crossing the border to
support their followers in Basra and other southern cities," a
police officer in Basra told IPS. "They are doing their best to
tear this country apart so that they can keep the Americans busy in
Iraq."
Local people say British
occupation forces which are largely responsible for security in southern
Iraq, and particularly Basra, do not want to interfere in the new political
disputes.
"They (the British military)
started with evicting our Sunni Arab brothers and now they are turning
against us," a Shia tribal chief told IPS. "They want the
south of Iraq to be an easy bite for Iranians and their interests in
Iraq."
"Iran has always had
an eye on our country, but their dream is too far from coming to reality,"
30-year-old Basra resident Jassim Alwan told IPS. "We will fight
them the same way we fought them before, and even harder."
But most people in Basra
blame the U.S.-led occupation for the collapsing situation.
"They pretend that they
are fighting terror, but they are cooperating with Iranian terror in
our cities," Ahmed, a member of the Ba'ath Party in Basra told
IPS. "There are daily assassinations against us and other brothers
who do not support the occupation, and the occupation forces are happy
with that."
Several Basra residents told
IPS they expect the situation in the south to get worse, and the divisions
between the Shia political parties to widen.
It is not certain who will
be responsible for security. A senior British military officer told
reporters Monday that British forces in southern Iraq are expected to
shrink from the current 7,000 to just a few hundred within two years.
Plans to withdraw the British
garrison in Basra are already well under way, with two of the three
bases closed. The remaining base at Basra Palace is under continuing
mortar attack. British military commanders say they want to close it
by this summer.
At least eight British soldiers
have been killed this month, making it the third deadliest month for
the British military in Iraq since the occupation began in April 2003.
At least 142 British troops have been killed in Iraq.
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