Iraqi armed groups link disarmament to US withdrawal, formation of new gov't

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary forces on Friday said the armed factions would hand over their weapons after a new government is formed and US forces withdraw from the country.

Iraq has been experiencing a political crisis since the results of the parliamentary elections were announced at the end of last year.

Disagreement among political groups in parliament has led to a deadlock, preventing the election of a new president and the formation of a government.

Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, whose party won the last parliamentary elections, said recently that disarming Shia factions not supervised by the state would be key in including a group of Shia parties known as the Coordination Framework in a new coalition government.

The Coordination Framework is an umbrella of Shia parties pushing al-Sadr to accept their participation in the next government, based on a sectarian quota system. Al-Sadr has, however, insisted on forming a "national majority" government.

"In principle, this (al-Sadr's) proposal was approved," Falih Al-Fayyadh, head of the Hashd al-Shaabi, said in an interview with the local Al-Sharqiya TV network.

Al-Fayyadh said the factions want a new government and the withdrawal of US forces from the country in exchange for handing over their weapons.

The Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces, is an official institution operating under the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Iraq and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Recent months saw a spate of attacks targeting US-led coalition convoys in central and southern Iraq.

The attacks came after a threat by Iran-affiliated Iraqi armed factions to target foreign forces in the country.

Washington accuses Iran-backed Iraqi groups of being behind the attacks, an accusation denied by Tehran.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat