Iraq PM offers general amnesty to turn tide
Maliki also rejects assertion by autonomous Kurdish region
Iraq Prime Minister Nuri alMaliki offered a general amnesty Wednesday in a rare conciliatory move to undercut support for militants whose offensive has overrun swathes of territory and threatens to tear Iraq apart.
The offer came after a farcical opening to the new parliament, despite international leaders urging Iraq’s fractious politicians to unite to help combat insurgents, as the military struggles to seize the initiative on the ground.
International leaders have warned Iraq’s politicians there is no time to waste, while the head of a powerful jihadist group that led the militant advance urged skilled professionals to flock to help its newly proclaimed pan-Islamic state.
Maliki’s surprise move, made in his weekly televised address, appeared to be a bid to split the broad alliance of jihadists, loyalists of executed dictator Saddam Hussein and anti-government tribes that has captured large chunks of five provinces.
“I announce the provision of amnesty for all tribes and all people who were involved in actions against the state” but who now “return to their senses,” excluding those involved in killings, Maliki said.
It was not immediately clear how many people the amnesty could affect, but analysts have said some form of political reconciliation will be necessary to convince Sunni Arabs angry with the Shiite-led government to turn against their co-religionists and jihadists.
The vast majority of Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority do not actively support the Islamic State jihadist group, formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), spearheading the offensive, but analysts say anger over perceived mistreatment by the authorities means they are less likely to cooperate with the security forces.
Meanwhile, Maliki Wednesday rejected an assertion by the country’s autonomous Kurdish region that its control of disputed territory is here to stay.
“No one has the right to exploit the events that took place to impose a fait accompli, as happened in some of the actions of the Kurdistan region. This is rejected,” Maliki said.
He was responding to remarks by regional president Massud Barzani last week that there was no going back on Kurdish rule in the northern city of Kirkuk and other towns now defended by Kurdish fighters against Sunni militants.
Barzani later told the BBC in an interview that Iraq’s Kurds will hold an independence referendum within months, telling the broadcaster that the time was right as Iraq was already effectively partitioned.
Maliki said on Wednesday he hoped parliament could form a new government in its next session on Tuesday next week after the first collapsed in discord.