Posted on 02/07/2004 5:55:42 PM PST by Valin
CAIRO, Egypt - The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq is threatening the Iraqi and regional stability by empowering Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups, according to an Arab League report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press.
The report, drawn up by an Arab League delegation that visited Iraq in December, is circulating among the 22 members of the Cairo-based Arab League but has not been made public.
It reflects concerns among Arab countries that changes in the sharing of power in a post-Saddam Hussein government could give too much authority to the Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups, inspiring those minority groups in neighboring countries to rise up and demand more power.
Arab states are predominantly Sunni, but Sunnis in Iraq have dominated politics - even though the Shiites make up 60 percent of the population. The only other places where Shiites dominate in population and political power is non-Arab Iran. The Saudi leadership have long feared unrest among its minority Shiite community.
"Iraqis find geographical and ethnic federalism a prelude to division of the country," said the report, which does not name the country's Shiites but uses the term "sectarianism" to refer to Shiite and Kurdish political aspirations.
The Shiites are pushing for majority representation in the government. Kurds, who have gained authority in the north of Iraq, seek federal autonomy from the government in Baghdad.
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, rejected the report. The PUK is one of two main Kurdish parties controlling Kurdish northern Iraq.
"Those chauvinists are trying to demonize federalism to scare simple-minded people and poison their minds," Talabani wrote in an article published Saturday in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
The Arab League delegation, headed by Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed Bin Heli, spent 10 days in Iraq meeting with members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, the Cabinet, religious leaders, tribal chiefs and trade union representatives.
Its findings will be formally submitted to a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in March and later to an Arab summit.
"The makeup of the Governing Council was among the reasons which have helped to sow the seeds of sectarianism," a section of the 50-page document read.
The majority of 13 seats on the 25-member Governing Council and the Cabinet were given to politicians representing the Shiite majority. The other seats are divided among five Kurds, five Sunni Arabs, one Christian and one Turkman.
Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the report is intended to "reflect what the delegation found" in Iraq rather than to blame any particular group. "That was our finding. (Sectarianism) might become a source for serious problems," said Zaki, who was a member of the four-person delegation.
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