Iraq & Its Sunni Arabs - The Challenges Of Terrorism - Part 5C.

In one of the first signs that Sunni Arabs outside mainstream parties are moving into politics at the grass-roots level, tribal leaders and academics on Nov. 5 announced a movement to capture Sunni Arab votes in parliamentary elections on Dec. 15. The Sunni Arabs in Iraq are a minority accounting for 15-20% of the population. The Shi'ite Arabs are a majority of about 60%. The Kurds in the north are a minority of strategic importance to the US and other Western powers as well as to Israel.

Hundreds of people on Nov. 5 met in Ramadi, capital of the western province of Anbar, Iraq's only governorate populated overwhelmingly by Sunni Arabs, and unveiled the National Public Democratic Movement, said Shaikh Hamid Turki al-Shawka, a tribal leader from Ramadi. The five-hour meeting took place in Shawka's house and included people from al-Qa'im, near the Syrian border; Mosul, in northern Iraq; and Ba'quba, north of Baghdad. The leaders registered the movement with Iraq's electoral commission.

Like many other Sunni Arab politicians, the leaders who met in Ramadi claimed to have ties to the insurgency. Shawka, deputy head of the movement, hinted he had links to Iraqi fighters in Ramadi who oppose the US occupation and that he could control them. He said: "There were people who tried to make conferences in Ramadi, but they were threatened by gunmen. The people of Anbar are not represented by those conferences outside Anbar", referring to more mainstream Sunni parties. Tariq al-Barwari, the NPDM leader, a Kurd, said: "When we achieve our progress, it will make Ramadi quiet". But the relationship between the NPDM and the Neo-Salafi groups, who are the most extreme and most intolerant strain in Sunni Islam, is not known.

The UN Security Council on Nov. 8 unanimously extended the mandate of the US-led MNF in Iraq until end-2006. The resolution, co-sponsored by the US, UK, Japan, Romania and Denmark, says the mandate will be reviewed by June 15, and can be terminated earlier if requested by the Iraqi government. The US will report on the force's activities on a quarterly basis. France stressed that the UN should play a "decisive role" in Iraq's political and economic transition.