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Sunnis and Kurds Walk Out of Iraq Parliament Iraqi Parliament Fails to Reach Deal on New Government
(about 7 hours later)
BAGHDAD — Sunnis and Kurds walked out of the first session of the Iraqi Parliament on Tuesday, imperiling efforts to form a new government in the face of a bitter offensive by Sunni militants. BAGHDAD — Iraq’s major parties initially thought they had a deal ready when they sat down Tuesday to form a new government, but the effort collapsed in factional acrimony in less than half an hour.
After the new Parliament took a short recess after less than an hour of debate, Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers did not return. There were not enough lawmakers present for a quorum, forcing the session to be adjourned for at least a week. “We need our salaries!,” shouted a Kurdish representative, Najiba Najib, complaining that the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad had not been paying Kurdish officials since the Kurdistan region all but broke away last month. When extremists with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria drove the Iraqi Army from northern Iraq, the Kurds took the opportunity to seize control of Kirkuk. The Kurds have long laid claim to the oil-rich city, and insisted that they intend to keep it.
Spokesmen for the party of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki blamed Kurds and Sunnis for the impasse, provoking countercharges that Shiite leaders were not ready to make a serious deal. The day’s events also ended hopes of an early resolution to Iraq’s political crisis, even as insurgents mount a violent challenge north and west of the capital. “You brought ISIS into our country and took the Iraqi flag down in Kirkuk and put your flag up!,” shouted Mohammed Naji, a Shiite politician, at Ms. Najib. “Go and sell your oil to Israel.”
The walkout represented a rejection of calls by Shiite religious leaders who had demanded agreement on the speedy formation of a government that included Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites. The meeting’s rocky start did not come about for lack of incentive. American diplomats have made it clear that any major new military assistance against extremists would come only if the Iraqis form an inclusive government acceptable to all sects. The powerful Shiite religious establishment had issued an edict telling legislators they had to conclude the entire deal by Tuesday. And up and down much of the country, Sunni militants pressed the government on numerous fronts.
The Iraqi government had declared a national holiday for the convening of Parliament. Many shops and businesses were closed as large numbers of troops and police officers patrolled the city and established checkpoints at most major intersections, as well as around neighborhoods with large Sunni populations. The seriousness of the violence was reflected in a United Nations report issued Tuesday confirming that June had been the deadliest month in Iraq since at least 2008, with 2,417 people killed, 1,531 civilians and 886 members of the security forces — four times as many as in May.
Underscoring the threat from the militants, the United Nations announced that June had been the deadliest month in Iraq for many years. Yet only 255 of the 328 newly elected lawmakers even showed up for the first session of Parliament, with some boycotting, and others afraid to travel to Baghdad because of the violence. That was enough, however, for the two-thirds quorum needed to elect a speaker and begin forming a government.
The violent death toll in Iraq, except Anbar Province, during June was 2,417 people. By far the largest category of fatalities was civilians, with more than 1,500 dead, followed by 886 members of Iraq’s beleaguered security forces, according to United Nations statistics. As the Parliament members arrived amid heavy security, there were reports from police and Interior Ministry officials of violence from many quarters. A roadside bomb exploded in the Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliya, in west Baghdad, killing four civilians. A government employee was assassinated in the Jihad neighborhood nearby. Four other civilians were killed in a bombing in Ramadi and six soldiers were wounded in a mortar barrage near Falluja, both in Anbar Province, west of Baghdad. A policeman was killed during a fight with insurgents in Diyala Province and three soldiers were killed in an explosion in Iskandiriya, south of Baghdad.
The fatalities were four times higher than in May, before the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria began its offensive to take Mosul and much of northern Iraq on June 10. Monday night, six civilians were killed when the extremists fired mortars at the Askariya Shrine in Samarra, revered by Shiites, but the damage to the shrine was slight and the attack did not cause any immediate public reaction, as a similar attack did in 2006, which set off a sectarian blood bath.
The death toll was one of the highest monthly figures for Iraq, reaching a level of violence not seen there since 2008, according to the United Nations. In May, according to the data, 799 people were killed in Iraq, including 240 members of the security forces. The figures do not take into account Anbar Province, much of which has been under the control of ISIS-led insurgents and where the United Nations has no presence. The United Nations cited Health Ministry officials in Anbar as recording 244 civilians killed and 588 injured from June 1-29, bringing the total violent death toll for the country in June to at least 2,661. The sense of urgency seemed to have little effect on Iraq’s new legislators, however. The major players arrived thinking they had a deal that would speed up formation of a government — a process that took nine months in 2010, but during a time of relative calm.
In 2008, one of the worst years of sectarian violence, 7,000 people were killed in the entire year. Sunnis and Kurds were to have agreed on Salim al-Jabouri, a Sunni, to become the new speaker, replacing Usama al-Nujaifi. In exchange, they expected the Kurds to announce their choice for president, who has to be a Kurd, and the Shiites’ National Alliance bloc to announce a Shiite prime minister to replace the incumbent, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Both Sunnis and Kurds, along with some Shiites, have insisted that Mr. Maliki has to go.
The top United Nations official in Iraq, Nikolay E. Mladenov, called the civilian casualties in June a “staggering number” and connected the violence to Iraq’s stalled political process. Sunnis at the last minute faced a challenge from Mr. Nujaifi, who wants to hold onto his seat, according to the Shiite politician Haider al-Abadi, a supporter of Mr. Maliki’s State of Law party. And Kurds were nowhere near agreeing on a candidate for president. Kurds and Sunnis, however, said the Shiites reneged by not coming to the meeting with a nominee for the post of prime minister.
With large parts of the country under the control of ISIS militants and armed groups, Mr. Mladenov said in a statement issued by his office: “It is imperative that national leaders work together to foil attempts to destroy the social fabric of Iraqi society.” Iraq’s complex system of choosing a government makes such deal-making both difficult and essential. The speaker is necessary to preside over Parliament to elect a president, who then chooses the biggest bloc in Parliament, which picks the prime minister. But a two-thirds vote is required to choose the speaker, so politicians try to have the entire deal agreed on in advance.
“What can be achieved through a Constitutional political process cannot be achieved through an exclusively military response,” he added. “Security must be restored but the root causes of violence must be addressed.” “We cannot jump to the last stages without taking the first step,” said Mr. Abadi, adding that it would be foolish for the Shiites to announce their prime ministerial candidate now if the process ended up taking months. That, he said, would render Mr. Maliki a lame-duck leader in the middle of running a war.
Late Monday night, ISIS militants fired mortars into the Askari shrine in Samarra, killing six people, according to hospital officials. So after Ms. Najib and Mr. Naji exchanged words, a recess was called by the temporary speaker, Mahdi Ahmed Hafith (whom everyone agreed on because he was the oldest person in the assembly). Only 60 legislators returned from the recess, however, so there was no quorum to continue. Parliament was adjourned until July 8.
An Iraqi government official said the shrine, where many worshipers had gathered to celebrate the first day of Ramadan, was not hit, but a security official at the scene said two mortars hit the dome, causing minor damage. “I think there will be an agreement by then, maybe sooner,” Mr. Abadi said. “Yesterday we thought we had an agreement.”
Such attacks on the shrine by Qaeda-related groups in 2006 set off a wave of sectarian violence in Iraq that lasted for years. “It was not a good beginning,” conceded a Kurdish legislator, Ala Talabani. “But it’s not bad as well.”
The Iraqi government has heavily reinforced Samarra, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, to prevent ISIS insurgents from carrying out attacks on the shrine. Within hours, the United Nations issued an unusually strong rebuke. “Politicians in Iraq need to realize that it is no longer business as usual,” said the top representative here, Nickolay Mladenov. “I call upon all political leaders to set aside their differences.”
ISIS has made no secret of its intention to spark a sectarian war in Iraq, as Al Qaeda did in 2006. The group has been formed from the remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which was defeated by a Sunni uprising against the extremists, aided by support from the American and Iraqi militaries. Mr. Mladenov called the June death toll “staggering.”
The assault on the shrine aroused fears of a wave of retaliatory attacks in an atmosphere in which Sunnis have already begun to be the target of random, apparently sectarian killings in Baghdad and elsewhere, as a response to the advances by ISIS in Sunni-dominated parts of the country. Not only was it four times higher than that of May, when 799 people were killed in Iraq, 240 of them security forces, but it was the highest such toll since at least 2008, in the midst of the American-led invasion, when 7,000 people were killed in the entire year. The figures do not take into account Anbar Province, much of which has been under the control of ISIS-led insurgents and where the United Nations has no presence. The United Nations cited Health Ministry officials in Anbar as recording 244 civilians killed and 588 wounded from June 1-29, bringing the total death toll for the country in June to at least 2,661.
“What can be achieved through a constitutional political process cannot be achieved through an exclusively military response,” Mr. Mladenov said. “Security must be restored but the root causes of violence must be addressed.”