Iraqi PM unveils Baghdad security plan

The embattled Iraqi government is launching a new security plan for Baghdad, involving thousands of US and Iraqi troops, as it struggles to contain escalating sectarian violence.

According to senior Iraqi officials, the plan involves adding an additional division of US and Iraqi troops, amounting to about 4,000 soldiers, to retake neighbourhoods controlled by Sunni Arab insurgents or Shia militias. The move follows a crackdown that was announced last month but failed to stem the rising tide of sectarian bloodshed, particularly in the capital.

In London on Monday, ahead of a visit to the US, Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, said the revised security plan was aimed at securing areas around the capital where people had been forced out of their homes, and creating a security cordon to prevent insurgents and car bombs from reaching Baghdad.

In spite of the formation of a new government and the launch of a national reconciliation plan, sectarian violence, perpetrated by Sunni insurgents and Shia militias, has dramatically surged, with the UN estimating that as many as 6,000 Iraqis were killed in May and June. 

The worse atrocities have been in Baghdad, where people have been pushed out of their neighbourhoods because of their religious affiliation, an alarming trend that has raised fears the city was being divided into Sunni and Shia parts.

“The focus now is on Baghdad because of the rise of sectarian violence. There are operations to force people out of neighbourhoods and it’s done by both sides,” Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, said on Monday. “But the capital cannot be divided – it cannot function if it is.”

Mr Zebari said the government also had plans to establish joint Sunni-Shia committees in neighbourhoods to counter the civil strife and encourage people to remain. “The key issue for the government is to contain this violence,” he said.

Since the Maliki government was formed in April it has focused on fighting the Sunni-dominated insurgency through a combination of sticks and limited carrots, including the release of prisoners and the promise of amnesty to people who have supported the rebellion but were not involved in killings. The success of the plan, however, hinges on the ability of the government to also control Shia militias, now considered as big a challenge to security as the Sunni rebels.

Mr Maliki on Monday said the Shia-dominated government was determined to have “a monopoly on arms” but suggested that, at least at this point, the militias would not be confronted by force.

“There is a consensus that there is no need for militias, but some say disarming them is related to stability – that’s why improving the military capabilities of the government without using force against them will work,” he said. He added, however, that once Iraqi troops proved more capable of fighting the insurgency, militias that still refused to disarm would be challenged.

“The issue of militias is not that simple,” he said. “Some refuse to obey the law. So after the process is complete we’ll use force against those who don’t comply.”