UN, Iraq cleric urge reforms after protests

TOP UN official in Iraq and the country’s most senior Muslim cleric on Monday urged authorities to get “serious” about reforms after anti-government demonstrations that have cost hundreds of lives.

Mass rallies calling for an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked the capital Baghdad and the country’s Shiite-majority south since October 1 -- the largest and deadliest popular movement in Iraq in decades.

The bloody unrest has sparked serious concern from the United Nations, human rights groups and the White House, which has called on Iraq “to halt the violence against protesters” and to pass electoral reform.

After weeks of paralysis, top leaders seem to have agreed to keep the system intact, but the UN in Iraq (UNAMI) urged them to enact a host of changes.

These include electoral reforms within two weeks, the prosecution of those responsible for the recent bloodshed as well as of corrupt officials, and the

passing of anti-graft laws.

On Monday, UNAMI chief Jeanine HennisPlasschaert met the country’s highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in the holy city of Najaf.

She said the seat of Shiite religious power in Iraq, known as the marjaiyah, had stressed that “peaceful demonstrators cannot go home without sufficient reforms” to answer their demands.

“The marjaiyah expressed its concerns that the political forces are not serious enough to carry out such reforms,” said HennisPlasschaert.

“If the three authorities -- executive, judiciary and legislative -- are not able or willing to conduct these reforms decisively, there must be a way to think of a different approach,” she warned.

There was no statement attributable directly to Sistani, who is 89 and never appears in public.

In his recent sermons, delivered by a representative, Sistani has described the protesters’ demands as “legitimate” and called for the rallies to be handled with “restraint”.

Parliament will meet on Wednesday for a session on the current crisis, the speaker announced on Monday, adding that Hennis-Plasschaert would attend.

- Rallies flare up At least 18 protesters have been killed since Saturday as security forces have cracked down on demonstrators.

They have forcibly cleared streets and squares in Baghdad, in the port hub of Basra and the southern city of Nasiriyah, where four protesters were shot dead on Sunday.