http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1495302,00.html
Iraq’s religious leaders are intensifying efforts to heal the rifts between the country’s Sunnis and Shias amid a spate of sectarian killings that has raised fears of civil war.
A weekend meeting between senior figures from the Sunni Association of Muslim Clerics and the Shia Badr Brigades – the militia of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the biggest Shia party – sought to ease tensions caused by the killing of at least 14 Sunni clerics in the past month. Several Shia religious leaders and politicians have also been killed during the same period. It was the first of a series of face-to-face talks between the two powerful groups engineered by the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who is mediating in the crisis. Sheikh Hazem al-Araji, the head of Mr Sadr’s office in the Baghdad Shia district of Khadimiya, where the meeting took place, told the Guardian yesterday the two sides had agreed about the need “to serve Iraq and to preserve its unity”. He said another meeting would be held in the next few days and a national gathering of Sunni and Shia leaders would be called once the problems between the two organisations were resolved. Another of Mr Sadr’s aides, Sheikh Ghaith al-Tamimi, said: “We want to bring about peace in Iraq and in all Iraqi cities. If that means organising a mass prayer of Sunni and Shia together, we’ll organise it.” Relations have worsened following accusations by Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, the leader of the Sunni clerics’ association, that the Badr Brigades had orchestrated the killing of a number of prominent Sunni figures. Badr Brigades’ leaders denied that and in return accused Sunni clerics of failing to denounce the insurgency and of fomenting sectarian conflict. The fresh attempt at mediation came as news emerged of the killing of 10 Shia pilgrims as they were returning from Syria. At a funeral on Saturday for four of the victims in the mostly Shia city of Diwaniyah, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, mourners chanted “revenge, revenge”. It followed a week of violence across Iraq which saw a wave of car bombs, suicide attacks and assassinations aimed at mostly Shia targets. “Ordinary Shia Muslims have been killed as they pray, as they marry, as they buy food,” said Sheikh Araji. “Enough is enough. We must defend ourselves. But we must not retaliate through violence.” The country’s most senior Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has also urged Shias to refrain from retaliation. A western diplomat in Baghdad said: “Since the fall of Saddam Hussein there has been little to no attempt at national reconciliation from the political and religious leaders. And unless that happens soon we may see more of see this kind of revenge killing.” The interior ministry said police accepted that the killings appeared to be on the increase. Despite the peace talks, the Sunni Arab minority, once all-powerful but now alienated and marginalised, remain angry. At Friday prayers in Hassanein mosque in the west Baghdad district of Amiriya the imam, Adnan Abdul Wahab al-Ani, said: “Saddam oppressed all Iraqi peoples without distinction, but now there is just one group being oppressed – the Sunnis.” After the sermon Sheikh Ani told the Guardian: “We are not accusing the Shia people, just the Badr Brigades … someone is killing Sunni religious people and politicians.” He said that in recent months, 152 Sunni mosques had been raided, while 14 sheikhs and 62 worshippers had been killed. Outside the mosque young men distributed DVDs promoting the militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In the nearby market, flyers were handed out that excoriated the “bullshit Shia” for cooperating with the Badr Brigades and for “welcoming Iran into Iraq”. The Badr Brigade was set up by Iraqi Shia exiles in Iran under the aegis of the Iranian government. One Sunni sheikh, Khalaf al-Aliyan, said Shia political parties had a hit-list targeting 4,000 Sunni Arabs but this was vehemently denied by Shia leaders.
Related:
Risk of Civil War Spreads Fear Across NationMany worry that strains between Sunnis and Shiites could ignite a conflict that would overwhelm U.S. troops and the government.
By Jeffrey FleishmanLATimesMay 29, 2005http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/latimes656.html
BAGHDAD