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Iraq takes over control of Sunni militia from U.S.

DUBAI: The Iraqi government has started establishing control over a key Sunni militia as part of its effort to tighten its grip over the multi-ethnic nation. The government of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki will now pay members of the Iraqi Awakening Councils — a Sunni militia group of around 1,00,000 — which so far had been on the payroll of the Americans.

Members of the Awakening Councils, which once fought the Americans after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, later became Washington’s allies in the fight against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Sunni Arab tribes in the provinces of Anbar, Diyala, Salaheddin, Nineveh and Tamim provinces are part of the Councils, whose annual maintenance costs the Americans around $360 million. The Iraqi government will pay 54,000 members of the group from November 10.

To extend the government’s hold in the interiors, Iraqi Parliament has recently passed an electoral law that would allow polls to be held in the provinces. However, to avoid tensions with the Kurds, dominant in the north, elections in the oil city of Kirkuk have been deferred. The status of Kirkuk has been disputed as ethnic Arabs and Turkomans residing there are opposed to handing over the control of the city to the Kurds. Kirkuk has majority of Kurds, but the city lies outside the limits of their semi-autonomous area in northern Iraq. The new law has been sent to Iraq’s three-member presidency council, headed by President Jalal Talabani for consideration.

The move comes amid the growing clout of Iraq’s indigenous security forces. Iraq is seeking a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, but is opposed to an immediate withdrawal. U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said a total withdrawal is unlikely. “No matter who is elected [U.S.] President in November, there will continue to be some kind of American advisory and counterterrorism effort in Iraq for years to come,” he said on Monday, during an address to the National Defence University (NDU) in Washington.

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