BAGHDAD, 17 September 2006 — Dozens of corpses were found across Baghdad yesterday, as Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki launched a fresh peace bid and the US pledged more troops to help to restore stability in the Iraqi capital. Police said 47 bodies were recovered in the streets of the capital, bringing to more than 150 the number of people killed execution-style across the country in the past four days amid raging sectarian conflict between the newly empowered Shiite majority and the ousted Sunni Arab elite.
Maliki called on some 1,700 academics and civil rights activists gathered for a conference in the capital to back his efforts to stem the fighting through a national reconciliation plan. “We should keep aside our differences to build bridges and Iraq’s civil society should work to implement a policy of concord,” Maliki urged the audience in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone - the seat of the Iraqi government and the US military headquarters.
He said the meeting was part of his national reconciliation plan aimed at restoring security and the only way to “defy terror.” “Reconciliation is the only thorough and sound way of thinking and offers a high sense of responsibility. He who has no such characteristics must keep away from the process.” Civil society groups, he added, held the “responsibility to end sectarianism and racism. They are responsible for spreading freedom and democracy.”
Maliki’s comments were greeted by a call from the audience of: “Yes, Yes to Iraq. No, No to terror.” Iraq’s junior minister for civil society Adel al-Asaadi said the government’s peace plan “was a valuable opportunity and should not be missed.” Many of the participants vowed to support peace. “We raise our voice and urge rival parties to stop the fighting and create an atmosphere void of terror,” said Ibtisam Abdel Razzak of the Iraqi Women Federation.
In a bid to rein in the violence, which has raged alongside persistent anti-US attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents, the United States military said it will divert some of the 30,000 troops in the restive Al-Anbar province to Baghdad. “The main effort is Baghdad. And we must ensure that we weight the main effort,” Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli told reporters late Friday.
Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, are planning to dig trenches around the capital to thwart the movement of rebels and death squads. “We will surround the city with trenches,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdel Karim Khalaf told AFP on Friday.
“Entry to the capital will be permitted through 28 roads as against 21 at the moment, but at the same time we will seal off dozens of other minor roads with access to Baghdad.” In other violence yesterday, a trio of bombs killed three people and wounded dozens in Baghdad.
