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Iraqis discuss postwar future
26/04/2003 22:51 - (SA)
Madrid - Iraqi opposition parties and civil society members came together in Spain on Saturday to discuss political representation for Iraq's Shi'ites in the south and autonomy for Kurds in the north, among other thorny issues.
It was the second of a three-day gathering in Madrid organised by a foundation close to the ruling Popular Party and its leader, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a strong supporter of the US-led war that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The meeting gathered some 100 politicians, writers, filmmakers and intellectuals to discuss Iraq's postwar democratic and economic development.
In closed talks, participants discussed how the rights of Iraq's mosaic of a population could be protected in a new constitution, said Mohamed Mohamed Ali, external relations chief of the Iraqi National Congress.
"Shi'ites of Iraq should have their legitimacy apart of Iran's influence," Mohamed Ali said when asked about statements by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who categorically stated Washington would not permit a pro-Iranian regime in Baghdad.
"It doesn't mean they can't reach the power," Mohamed Ali said. "Shi'ites are not all the same. Some are moderates, some are liberal, the majority of communist party are shi'ites. Shi'ites are not all religious."
Washington has accused Iran of sending agents to foment unrest among Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims in the south in a bid to push for an Iranian-style Islamic republic. Tehran has denied the accusations.
Brutally repressed
Shi'ite Muslims, who dominate the south of the country and make up 60% of the Iraqi population, were brutally repressed under Saddam, himself a Sunni. They would become a potent political force in a representative government in Iraq.
In Iraq's north, Kurds have enjoyed de facto control since the end of the Gulf War in 1991 and their yearning for independence has worried Iraq's neighbours with their own Kurdish populations, notably Turkey.
Under US pressure, Kurdish leaders in Iraq have stressed that they would not seek to break away from the country.
"The Kurdish issue could be solved in an united federal Iraq, with its own administration, a strong part of central government," said Latif Rashid of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two major Kurdish political parties in Iraq.
Rashid called the Madrid conference a "good gathering for all to express their visions and political aims" and discuss "how Iraq can become democratic and remain united."
Hussain Shaban, a member of a rights organisation, said that for his group, "security, reconstruction of our country and change to democracy, slowly, step by step, are our priorities."
Many of the Spanish speakers at the gathering are expected to discuss Spain's transition from a dictatorship in the 1970s.
The gathering will conclude on Sunday, when organizers hope the participants will be able to agree on a Madrid declaration as a "contribution to the future of democracy in Iraq."
- AFX
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