Opinion | Columnists
Al Maliki's attack widens alliance rift
Iraq's prime minister targets Presidential Council even after having sharp differences with his party's allies in the coalition government.
- By Mohammad Akef Jamal, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:31 November 29, 2008
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has widened the scope of his differences with other ruling alliance partners by attacking the Iraqi Presidential Council.
Al Maliki has accused the Council of conspiring with the Kurdish regional government to weaken his and his government's role in Baghdad.
Describing some of the two Kurdish parties's activities as unconstitutional, he threatened to reveal their law violations in a number of governorates.
The accusations came after a marked deterioration in relations within the ruling alliance.
Apart from differences over oil deals, Constitution's item 140 concerning Kirkuk and other disputed areas, and Al Maliki's wish to amend the constitution and tribal support councils, another issue has surfaced lately.
Kurdish officials this fall received three planeloads of small arms and ammunition imported from Bulgaria, US military officials said. The acquisition was outside the weapons procurement procedures of Iraq's central government.
The timing of the large quantity of shipments alarmed US officials, who are concerned about the prospect of an armed confrontation between Iraqi Kurds and the government. Though words such as "brothers" and "partners" are often used, they barely conceal a desire to drift farther apart.
This worries the parties that benefited from the political process based on sectarian and ethnic quotas. Outwardly, the differences seem to be over constitutional rights, but that is far from the truth.
The Kurdish alliance insists that the constitutional rights they gained must not be touched, while the other parties see it otherwise. In reality, the differences are beyond all that.
They are strategic and related to the vision of each party for Iraq's future, its understanding of the concept of homeland, democracy and federalism.
The constitution that brought these parties together is now ironically the source of the conflict.
Al Maliki's Dawa party is the weakest of the quartet that includes bigger parties such as the Democratic Kurdish Party, the Kurdish Patriotic Union and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Al Maliki is also tied down by the constitution that enhances the Kurd position.
Al Maliki's power stems from political blocs that are not in power. However, these smaller parties have big issues with Al Maliki in relation to his individualism.
The alliance partners tried to mend the rift when Masood Barzani, President of the Kurdish Region, visited Baghdad, and set up five panels to resolve differences related to the army, security, economy, disputed areas and foreign policy.
This step only helped postpone the eruption as the disagreements run much deeper. They are also too intense to be dealt with by the alliance itself, especially after other political blocs found common ground over a new political map that restrains the Kurdish alliance. The Iraqi political process is hampered by its unsound foundations. These disagreements can be wrongly understood as ethnic strife between Arabs and Kurds, especially because there are those on both sides who do not hide their animosity towards the other.
At first it would look as though these differences do not threaten the alliance, as the allies agree on major strategic issues. They are all for signing the Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa), but each party has its own reasons for backing the agreement.
While Al Maliki sees signing the US-Iraqi agreement as a better option, the Kurdish alliance sees US troops' presence as a security blanket.
The differences between Baghdad and Arbil have reached a stage when the Kurds are treating the central government among possible foes and not as trusted partners.
Mahmoud Othman, a prominent member of the Kurdish alliance, called on November 22 for guarantees to resolve pending issues between the central government and Kurds before signing Sofa.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has played a pacifying role on several occasions because of his political experience and position as the country's president, but now he finds himself as part of the conflict and not as a neutral observer.
The joint communiqué issued by the Patriotic Union party he heads and the Democratic Kurdish Party, on the proposed tribal support councils in the middle and southern Iraqi governorates, used language unacceptable in a political process. The political atmosphere in Iraq today is similar to that before Ebrahim Al Ja'afari was removed three years ago.
Then the Kurdish alliance had a strength it no longer possesses. So who will set the ground in the future: the alliance or others?
Dr Mohammad Akef Jamal is an Iraqi writer based in Dubai.
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