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“Attention
is also paid to launching contacts with varied Arab countries,”
El-Bayati
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By
Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Cairo Staff
CAIRO,
May 25 (IslamOnline.net) - Iraqi political factions are to send
delegations to world countries to garner support for ending the
U.S.-British occupation and installing an independent national
government at the helm of the war-torn country, the spokesman of the
largest Shiite group said on Saturday, May 24.
“The
leadership committee entrusted to form an interim government in the
country will send a memorandum to countries concerned to explain the
Iraqi viewpoint refusing the U.S. forces taking over authority
here,” said Hamid El-Bayati of the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in an interview with IslamOnline.net.
“Attention
is also paid to launching contacts with varied Arab countries, as
their leaders should back Iraqis’ demands for an end to occupation
and the handover of power to a national government,” Bayati told
IslamOnline.net by phone.
He
did not specify any countries to be included in the tour of the
delegation.
The
SCIRI spokesman was critical of the May 22 U.N. Security Council resolution
ending sanctions against Iraq and putting its oil revenues under the
control of the “occupying Powers.”
“The
resolution drags authority from the Iraqis to the U.S. forces,” he
lamented.
The
resolution transfers legal control over Iraq's oil immediately from
the United Nations to the United States and Britain. Oil revenues will
be deposited with the newly-created Iraqi Development Fund and
disbursed only at the direction of the occupying powers.
Fait
Accompli
Asked
how the ISCIRI is dealing with the occupying powers, El-Bayati said:
“They are now fait accompli, as the new Security Council resolution
gave them legitimacy.”
“We
will oppose the presence of these forces in a rather peaceful way, and
will try to convince them into leaving away upon the request of people
here,” he said.
The
Iraqis said the U.S. forces did not act
enough to stop the wave of looting and thievery that came hard
on the heels of the occupation of the country on April 9.
El-Bayati
slammed U.S. civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer’s decision to
dissolve the ministries of defence and information, saying it is up
“to a government chosen by Iraqis.”
He
denied that the Council leader Mohamed Baqr El-Heikum would abandon
the political landscape in Iraq, as his involvement is “a national
request of Iraqis”.
Hakim
returned to the country after more than 20 years of exile in
neighbouring Iran. He is believed to play a key role in the post-war
government given his large base of popularity among the Shiites, the
largest ethnic group in the country making up 60 percent of the
population.
National
conference
El-Bayati
said more national forces will be added to the seven-member leadership
committee.
“There
are talks with a number of political factions to join the
committee,” he said, refusing to identify any of them.
The
committee includes the SCIRI, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Iraqi National Congress
and Da’waa Party.
“
Joining the leading authority is controlled by certain mechanisms,
such as accepting foundations and principles which have been earlier
approved in the opposition conferences in London and Salah Eddin
before war on Iraq,” El-Bayati contended.
London
hosted a conference on December 2002, attended by 400 Iraqi opposition
figures.
The
conference ended with agreement that the post-war interim government
will be installed for two years to be followed by democratic elections
under an international monitoring.
