*EPF102 06/07/2004
Coalition Provisional Report, June 7: Iraq Update
(Transition and reintegration of militias launched) (450)

Washington --- The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad announced an agreement June 7 designed to integrate militias and armed forces that have existed outside Iraqi state control.

As the result of the successful conclusion of negotiations with a variety of parties around the country, the CPA says some 90 percent of the 100,000 individuals that this relates to "will have joined state security forces or entered civilian life by the time of Iraq's first elections" in 2005, and remaining 10 percent will do so shortly thereafter.

Some of the individuals covered by the Armed Forces and Militia Agreement have already started the transition and reintegration process. They will either transition into civilian life, where they will receive job training and the opportunity to earn benefits, or be integrated into one of the state security services such as the Iraqi Armed Forces, the Iraqi Police Service or the Internal Security Services of the Kurdish Regional Government.

The agreement covers all those who carried arms and represented major political parties, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party (DKP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Supreme Counsel of the Islamic Revolution in the Iraqi/Badr Organization, the Iraqi National Accord (INA), the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the Iraqi Hezbollah, the Iraqi Communist Party, and Da'wa.

The CPA reports that all of these parties "have accepted detailed plans, timetables and terms for the complete transition and reintegration of the armed groups under their authority."

Those individuals who are awaiting the completion of the transition or reintegration process will be referred to as "residual elements" and will have to be registered, monitored and regulated by the new Iraqi interim government.

A small number of individuals will become part of private security companies to be regulated by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.

With the successful completion of these negotiations, the CPA is releasing Order 91 that activates the Transitional Administrative Law banning militias. The CPA reports that anyone who promotes violence or lawlessness and rejects the transitional reintegration process "will be dealt with harshly."

On June 6, CPA spokesman Dan Senor said militia fighters associated with Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will be considered "hostile elements if they continue to bear arms."

He also refused to establish any timetable for al-Sadr to be brought to justice for his alleged role in the murder of another Muslim cleric.

As to the other parties that have joined in the agreement, the CPA applauded those who have stepped forward to endorse the process.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi described the agreement as "a watershed" in establishing rule of law in Iraq.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents