BAGHDAD — A months-long political crisis in
Iraq showed little sign of abating
Wednesday despite a fresh push for negotiations after nearly 24 hours of deadly
violence between rival Shiite factions ended.
اضافة اعلان
Baghdad’s
Green Zone, home to government buildings and embassies, returned to normality after
30 people were killed and 570 wounded in clashes pitting supporters of powerful
Shiite cleric
Moqtada Al-Sadr against pro-Iran factions.
Since elections
in October 2021, political deadlock has left Iraq without a new government,
prime minister, or president, due to disagreement over the formation of a
coalition.
The tensions
escalated sharply on Monday when Sadr loyalists stormed the government palace
following their leader’s announcement that he was quitting politics.
But Sadr’s
supporters trickled out of the Green Zone in a steady stream on Tuesday
afternoon when he appealed for them to withdraw within the hour.
A nationwide
curfew was lifted, before shops reopened and infamous traffic jams returned to
Baghdad’s streets on Wednesday as the government announced the resumption of
school exams postponed by the unrest.
But the hurdles
obstructing a solution to Iraq’s political crisis remained firmly in place,
with rival powers disagreeing over a path forwards.
Early elections,
less than a year after the last polls, and the dissolution of parliament have
been a key demand of Sadr.
Sadr’s rivals in
the pro-Iran Coordination Framework want a new head of government to be
appointed before any new elections are held.
Snap polls
On Wednesday, a senior aide of Sadr, Saleh Mohammad Al-Iraqi, lashed
out at the Framework in a strongly worded statement that pointed to a widening
schism.
“Iran should
reign in its Iraqi camels, or else there will be little room left for regret,”
he said Wednesday, referring to the Framework.
Under the
constitution, parliament can only be dissolved by a majority vote, which can
take place at the request of a third of lawmakers, or by the prime minster in
agreement with the president.
President
Barham Saleh said late Tuesday that snap elections could provide “an exit from the
stifling crisis”.
The Framework,
meanwhile, called for the swift formation of a new government, “to prevent a
recurrence of the strife” that paralyzed Baghdad this week.
It urged
parliament and other state institutions to “return to exercising their
constitutional functions and carry out their duties towards citizens”.
Prime Minister
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, meanwhile, threatened to resign unless the paralysis ends.
“If they want to
continue to stir up chaos, conflict, discord, and rivalry ... I will take the
moral and patriotic step and vacate my post,” he said.
Parliament
Speaker Mohammed Halbusi on Wednesday declared three days of mourning for those
killed in the clashes and Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji
convened a security meeting to look into the circumstances behind the unrest.
‘More protests’
“Unless a proper solution is reached, more protests and violence are
pos-sible,” said Iraqi political analyst Sajad Jiyad.
Falah
Al-Barzanji, a 63-year-old activist, said he believed the calm would be
short-lived.
“Today life has
returned to normal, but the fire is still burning under the ashes,” he told
AFP.
“The Iraqi
parliament must be dissolved and a reformist government must be installed.”
Pope Francis,
who visited Iraq last year, said he was “following with concern the violent
events that have taken place in
Baghdad” and urged dialogue.
Sadr — a
longtime player on the war-torn country’s political scene, though he himself
has never directly been in government — announced he was quitting politics two
days after he said “all parties” including his own should give up government
positions to help overcome the deadlock.
Sadr’s bloc
emerged from the October election as the biggest in the legislature, with 73
seats, but short of a majority.
Since then Iraq
has been paralyzed due to disagreement between Shiite factions over forming a
coalition.
In June, Sadr’s
lawmakers quit in a bid to break the logjam, which led to the Coordination
Framework becoming the largest bloc.
Sadr’s supporters had
for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq’s parliament, after storming the
legislature’s interior on July 30, demanding fresh elections be held.
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