A rchive Date
[ 19-01-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/01/18/317216-ap.html
Shiites demand elections in Baghdad
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Mon, January 19, 2004
BAGHDAD (AP) - Thousands of Iraqi Shiite Muslims marched in the capital Monday to demand an elected government, as U.S. and Iraqi officials prepared to seek the UN secretary general's endorsement of American plans for transferring power in Iraq.
Secretary General Kofi Annan has been reluctant for the United Nations to play a greater role in Iraq until Washington agrees to greater responsibility here and until he is convinced the country is safe. Underscoring those dangers, about 20 people were killed and more than 60 injured when a suicide bomber blew up his truck Sunday at a gate to the headquarters compound of the occupation authority in Baghdad.
The demonstration in central Baghdad was organized by supporters of Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who has rejected a U.S. formula for power transfer through a provisional legislature selected by 18 regional caucuses. The legislature is supposed to appoint a transitional government, which will take over from the U.S.-led coalition administration on July 1 before full elections in 2005.
"This demonstration is a message to America that we want elections," said Naim Al-Saadi, a 60-year-old tribal chief who joined about 10,000 people in central Baghdad. They were to march about five kilometres to the University of al-Mustansariyah.
Many marchers linked hands. Others carried portraits of al-Sistani and other Shiite leaders and waved computer print out banners saying "Real democracy means real elections."
About 30,000 Shiites had held a similar demonstration for elections on Thursday in the southern city of Basra, a Shiite dominated region.
Shiites are believed to be 60 per cent of Iraq's 25 million people but were suppressed by Saddam's Sunni dominated government. They fear the provisional legislature will cut them out of power again.
The growing clamour for political rights by the majority Shiites is ratcheting up pressure on the U.S.-led coalition administration and its Iraqi allies trying to control the guerrilla violence, blamed on Sunni minority insurgents loyal to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
U.S. and Iraqi Governing Council officials say it is not possible to hold free and fair elections before the July 1 deadline given the precarious security situation. U.S. officials hope Annan will support that view following his meeting Monday with chief administrator Paul Bremer and members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
Annan withdrew all international UN staff from Iraq after two bombings last year at UN headquarters and a spate of attacks on humanitarian targets. Sunday's bombing may have been a signal to the world organization to stay out of Iraq and a warning to Iraqis against co-operating with occupation forces.
Also Sunday, a bomb blast in the southern city of Karbala killed one person and injured many, said police Sgt. Jamil Abdul-Hussein. The coalition headquarters is one of the most heavily protected areas in Baghdad. U.S. soldiers guarding the gate usually stand about 20 metres from the road behind coils of barbed wire and concrete barriers.
Witnesses said that the driver of what the U.S. military described as a white Toyota pickup truck tried to bypass a line of Iraqi workers and a crowd of U.S. military vehicles at about 8 a.m., coming as close as possible to the entrance American troops call 'Assassins' Gate.'
Late Sunday, the U.S. command said "about 20" people were killed and 63 wounded. Officials said they were unable to give a more precise death toll because of the condition of some of the bodies dismembered in the blast.
The force of the blast, from a bomb containing 450 kilograms of explosive, rattled windows more than two kilometres away. Most victims were Iraqis, including some waiting in traffic in their cars or lined up for stringent security checks before going to work or attending other business inside the high-walled coalition compound, housed in what was once Saddam's Republican Palace.
Mohammed Jabbar, who works at the Ministry of Planning, said the blast "lifted us into the air" and people "fell on top of one another."
Several cars caught fire. Charred metal remains of the truck were hurled hundreds of metres away. Thick black smoke merged with the milky morning fog as armed U.S. soldiers tried to keep back crowds and help Iraqis escape the flames.
The wounded included three U.S. civilians and three American soldiers, the U.S. military said. "My friend was standing behind me in the line when the explosion happened," said Nabil Abdul Zahar. "There were lots of injured. I called for help, and no one came to help me. He died right there on the ground."
Iraqi police announced on loudspeakers that coalition forces would pay $2,500 US to anyone providing information on the perpetrators.
Col. Ralph Baker, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division, said he was unable to say what type of explosive was employed but that "typically we see PE4 as the principal explosive that they use." PE4 is a military-grade plastic explosive difficult to obtain from civilian sources.
"Once again, it is innocent Iraqis who have been murdered by these terrorists in a senseless act of violence," Bremer said in a statement. "Our determination to work for a stable and democratic future for this country is undiminished."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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