Iraqi tribes dragged into sectarian strife

 

By Mazzen Abdulhameed

 

Azzaman, October 25, 2006

 

Iraqi tribes are getting more and more involved in the sectarian strife that is tearing the country apart.

 

Both Arab and Kurdish tribes still wield influence in the country and many thought they could play a decisive role in halting the current bloodshed.

 

But the tribes, like other sectors of the society, find themselves drawn into the current sectarian struggle.

 

Kurdish and Arab tribes in the northern city of Mosul and restive oil-rich city of Kirkuk fight each other and Sunni and Shiite tribes across the country are also involved in the fight.

 

Affiliation particularly among Arab tribal hierarchy has little to do with sectarian divisions as many major tribes have both Shiite and Sunni members.

 

But the ferocity of the present strife and its heavy toll in casualties is setting them apart.

 

Mixed tribes are present in several areas in Iraq, particularly in the small towns between Baghdad and Tikrit in the north.

 

There are reports that the tribes have divided themselves on sectarian grounds and have began fighting each other, using rocket propelled grenades and mortars.

 

The governor Hamad al-Shakti said he was deeply concerned. “If tribes lose control of their areas and continue fighting, the situation will get completely out of control,” al-Shakti said.

The governor has had several meetings with tribal chieftains in his province for face to face meetings in which they vow not to fight each other.

 

Recently, he convened the tribes in the volatile region north of Baghdad where Balad, Dhiloiya and Dujail are situation. This mixed region has seen a dramatic rise in violence and sectarian killings most of which is going unreported by both local and international media.

 

A written document that forbids inter-tribe fighting was signed last week to halt fighting and sectarian killings for 20 days as a prelude for reconciliation.

 

Only two days later, sectarian killings resumed with at least nine more people killed and 12 injured.

 

“This is a black page in the history of the country,” the governor said when asked about the latest killings.

 

“I urge all the tribes to put an end to the bloodshed and turn a new page of reconciliation in their relations. Only with reconciliation we can build a bright future for Iraq,” he said.

 

As a reconciliatory gesture on his part, al-Shakti has promised to handsomely compensate all the families of the dead and those injured in his province in the hope that victims’ families and tribes would no longer ask for revenge.