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| Tuesday, 10 August 2004 |
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A peace foundation for Iraq An offer by the UN to mediate in ending current bloody clashes between the US-led multinational force and Shiite Muslim militants, which have already claimed more than 300 lives, is, perhaps, the only positive development in conflict-compounded Iraq, where hopes of working swiftly towards internal harmony are fast receding. "The United Nations is ready to extend its facilitating role to the current crisis, if this would be helpful," a UN statement said.
It is possible to see in this offer at mediation, welcome efforts by the UN to reassert its authority as a global peace initiating and law and order establishing organisation, which has hitherto allowed itself to be eclipsed somewhat by the principal military powers of the West. Those sections of world opinion which favour a multilateral approach to conflict resolution world-wide, are likely to hope that this initiative by the UN would be taken to its logical conclusion. Meanwhile, it is important it note that the UN is largely supportive of the Iraqi interim government's efforts to establish law and order, stability and reconciliation in Iraq. The interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Sunday called on militants loyal to radical Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr, currently battling the US-led force in Iraq, to down arms, accept its limited amnesty, and enter the democratic process with the aim of contesting countrywide elections in January next year, which, it is hoped, would give Iraq a government of its own. The pronounced sectarian dimension in the military challenge that has been launched to the US presence in Iraq, points to the increasing radicalization of indigenous cultural and religious groups amid what is perceived as external military aggression. Right now, it is the Shiite Muslims who are reacting most violently to the Western military presence. The range of such indigenous-based opposition could widen in proportion to increasing threat perceptions on the ground. These religious and cultural dimensions in the Iraqi conflict could render peace-making all that more difficult. Further compounding the conflict in Iraq are the recent bomb attacks in close proximity to some Christian churches in South Baghdad and the city of Mosul. Some 10 devotees were killed and scores of others injured in these car bomb attacks. There is proof here of the conflict being viewed in some Iraqi quarters in religio-civilizational terms - a much dreaded development which was, nevertheless," waiting to happen". Put baldly, the Western military presence in Iraq is apparently being seen in some sections of Iraqi opinion as "Christian aggression" of some sort and the local Christian community as being collaborators of such "aggressors." Hence, the animus towards and the attacks on churches. Such developments are further stark reminders of the increasing role religions are beginning to play in the formation of group and community identities in particularly those state formations which lack a secular foundation and which are multi-religions and multiethnic in character. In the absence of democratic institutions and a deeply-entrenched secular orientation, religions are playing a significant role in group mobilization and this in turn is bringing a religious dimension to inter group rivalry in these states. A future challenge for the world community would be to establish Iraq on strong secular and democratic foundations. Among some Iraqi fundamentalist religious forces, apparently, the invading "enemy" is being seen as Christian and the local Christian community is being enclosed within this conception. If religion is completely divorced from the State in a future Iraq and if power competition among groups comes to be regulated by democratic procedures, we would have a more harmonious and stable Iraq. |
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