Tribes move to fill in security vacuum

Iraqpress ^ | 12/05/03 | Iraqpress

[Pikamax]

Tribes move to fill in security vacuum

Baghdad, Iraq Press, December 5, 2003 – The continuing unrest and lack of security has prompted the authorities to rely on tribes to reinstate law and order.

The Interior Ministry invited tribal chiefs in the area of Baghdad and its districts and asked them to form their own vigilante groups.

The lightly armed groups will be responsible for security in their areas in the absence of Iraqi police or US-led coalition troops.

Interior Ministry reports say that some tribes have done an excellent job in their own areas, with their vigilante groups inspecting suspected vehicles and helping police pre-empt several attacks and explosions.

There are 30,000 policemen in Iraq, about 12,000 of them in Baghdad.

But security remains number one problem facing the nascent Iraqi authority and the US-led occupation troops.

The ministry says if the experiment succeeds in Baghdad and its neighboring districts, it will pan to apply it in Ramadi, Baaqouba, Tikrit and Mosul – the major towns within the so-called Sunni triangle and the center of attacks on police and foreign troops.

The United States has earmarked $3 billion to return security to the country.

And it hopes by September next year Iraq will have 250 police battalions each of 500 men to be deployed across the country.