BAGHDAD, 25 May 2003 — Iraqis will need permits to carry small arms from June 15 and all concealed or heavy weapons will be banned, the US-led coalition announced yesterday as it moved to control the flood of firearms swamping the country. Under the directive issued by occupation administration chief Paul Bremer, owners of banned arms will have 14 days from June 1 to turn them in.

Detailed procedures were set down for weapons handovers during the amnesty to prevent those complying with the order being shot at by coalition troops. They are to be publicized as widely as possible, a coalition spokesman said.

“Individuals will be instructed to turn in unauthorized weapons by placing the unloaded, disassembled weapon into a clear plastic bag provided by coalition forces and walk slowly to the collection point,” a coalition statement said.

“Collection points will be at designated locations like police stations and jointly manned by Iraqi and coalition forces. Weapons may only be turned in during daylight hours before 6 p.m.” The head of coalition ground forces, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, first announced the new measure Friday in a bid to bring the huge dispersed arsenal of Saddam Hussein’s defeated security forces under control.

Military hardware, including mortars, hand grenades and even Israeli Uzis, has found its way into the hands of Iraqi civilians. A roadblock right outside a US camp witnessed by AFP netted three Kalashnikovs in searches of 50 cars.

Under the new policy, Iraqis will need a temporary weapons card issued by coalition commanders to carry small arms outside their homes and businesses, and must do so openly. All heavy weapons, explosives and automatic weapons firing ammunition larger than 7.62 millimeters will be outlawed, as will the open arms markets which have sprung up on Iraqi streets since the war.

Those without permits will be allowed to keep small arms in their homes and workplaces for self-defense, but they will not be allowed to take them outside. McKiernan said the special provision for householders and businesspeople had been unavoidable amid the wave of violent crime still plaguing the city. “After June 14, individuals caught with unauthorized weapons will be detained and face criminal charges,” the coalition statement said.

Meanwhile, some 300 delegates gathered in the northern city of Kirkuk yesterday to elect a 30-member council for oil-rich region which the US-led coalition said would give the local population a say in running the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi province. “This is a first step for democracy, not democracy. It’s a way for the population to get organized and have some say in how we move forward,” Maj, Gen, Raymond Odierno, commander of coalition forces in northeast Iraq and of the US 4th Infantry Division, told reporters.

Maj, Josslyn Aberle, from the public affairs office of the 4th Infantry Division, said the 300 delegates included 39 representing the Kurds, 39 Arabs, 39 Turkmens, 39 Assyrians and 144 independents. The Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen and Assyrian Christian groups will each elect six representatives to the council, while the independents will present a list of 10-12 nominees to the coalition, which will choose the six who will represent them. The new council will on Tuesday elect a mayor and three assistant mayors, she said. “We are here to help,” Odierno said. “Ultimately the people of Kirkuk and Iraq have to take care of themselves.”

Aberle said the council, which will replace an existing one, will be in charge of schools and health care in the province of 800,000 to 850,000 inhabitants. The council, serving both Kirkuk city and province, will also be able to set up a database for people with claims to property, she said, referring to past policies of settling Arabs in the province.

In another development, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer Hakim, a top Shiite leader, returned to the city of Karbala yesterday for the first time after 23 years in exile and demanded to know why Iraqis were not running their country. “Have Iraqis reached the age of reason?” Baqer asked in a speech to thousands of the faithful whose shouts had delayed the start of an important address to the people.

“Why do they not have the right to form a government and to manage their affairs?” Baqer spoke at the Imam Hussein domed mosque, the holiest shrine of the 12 Shiite imams, in Karbala, 80 kilometers south of Baghdad.

“Why is the running of the country and the government not transferred to Iraqis? Are they still minors who cannot govern their country?” he added in a series of rhetorical questions which begged only one answer. Baqer, who made a triumphant return to Iraq this month, called for a government “representing all Iraqis” to be set up.