linked - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Ozeti
Kurdistan et le Sud chiite.
En fait, les sunnites auraient sans
doute beaucoup à gagner d'une partition
de l'Irak. Dans une région qui leur serait
propre, ils pourraient entretenir une
armée et assurer leur propre sécurité.
Les sunnites craignent d'être privés
des ressources pétrolières, situées dans
le nord et le sud du pays. Or, pour
faciliter la partition, chiites et Kurdes ont
d'ores et déjà accepté de garantir aux
sunnites une part proportionnelle des
revenus pétroliers irakiens, et, d'autre
part, de larges zones des régions sunnites
n'ont pas encore été prospectées.
Les voisins arabes de l'Irak redoutent
qu'un éclatement du pays n'établisse un
précédent dangereux pour leur propre
intégrité, mais ils pourraient également
estimer qu'un Sud chiite irakien sous
influence iranienne vaut mieux qu'un
contrôle iranien sur l'ensemble du
territoire.
Les voisins arabes
redoutent qu'un éclatement
du pays n'établisse
un précédent dangereux
pour leur propre intégrité
La Turquie, qui abrite quelque 14 millions
de Kurdes, craint qu'un Kurdistan
indépendant ne contrIbue à exacerber le
sentiment séparatiste kurde en Turquie.
Pourtant, jusqu'à présent, le
gouvernement d'Ankara a réagi avec
pragmatisme et développé des liens
économiques et politiques avec le
Kurdistan, qui est, comme la Turquie,
laïque, non arabe, pro-occidental et
favorable à la démocratie. Un Kurdistan
indépendant servirait de tampon entre la
Turquie et un Irak dominé par l'Iran.
De fait, l'actuelle guerre civile
irakienne est en train de faire voler en
éclats un Etat créé par des étrangers qui,
durant ses quatre-vingts années
d'existence, n'a apporté que souffrance
et misère à la majorité de sa population.
Un des grands atouts d'une éventuelle
partition est qu'elle constitue une
solution irakienne à un problème
irakien. Et il n'y a aucune raison de
penser qu'entériner l'éclatement de
l'Irak aggraverait la situation. Avec un
peu de chance, cela pourrait même
contribuer à faire baisser la violence. III!
Traduit de l'anglais par Gilles Berton
@NewYorkTimesSyndicate
v.s. bands Iraqis control of Najaf
By Marc Santora
NAJAF, Iraq: More than three years
after the initial invasion, and two years
after U.S. forces put down a revoIt here
by the militia ofMoktada al-Sadr, Najaf
on Wednesday became the first
province under American control to be
handed over to the Iraqis. It is the third
province in the country to have power
transferred.
Even as a debate continues in Washington
about what should be done to
help pacify much of the country, especially
Baghdad, coalition forces say they
want to turn over aIl provinces in Iraq
by the end of 2007.
The transfer means that the Iraqi government
will get control over its 8th
Army Division, which has roughly
10,000 soldiers. Shiite leaders, who control
both this province and the national
government, have been anxious to get
more operational control over the Iraqi
Army, which the U.S. military has been
laboring to train.
But security in the city of Najaf was
already largely under Iraqi control, as
American forces, cognizant of the religious
importance of the area, have
steered c1ear after putting down an uprising
by the Sadr militia, known as the
Mahdi Army.
As the center ofShiite scholarship and
the home of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
Najaf has not been plagued with the
kind of sectarian violence that is tearing
•Baghdad and other major cities apart.
; But there have been struggles between
Shiite factions, and residents
, privately expressed concem that many
Mahdi Army members were still armed
and ready to fight if provoked.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national
security adviser, attended the trans-
Handoyer in Iraq
With Najaf, Iraqi security forces
have now assumed responsibillty
for three
provinces.
NowlJndl1r
lraql COl1trol
fer ceremony and also used the trip to
meet with Sistani, discussing the problem
of militias.
Briefing reporters after his conversation,
he said he told Sistani of the govemment's
"plans to reinstate and integrate
the militias and armed groups."
He said Sistani agreed with this goal.
"His eminence called for national
unity and the cohesiveness ofIraqis and
to rally around the national unit y govemment,"
he said.
The local authorities closed aIl the
roads in the city before the transfer ceremony,
and while the security situation is
relatively stable here, foreigners still bad
to travel escorted by military convoy.
Inside a soccer stadium at the heart
of this ancient city, the Iraqi Army, the
police, border control officers and the
fire brigade paraded for over an hour
before a delegation of top American and
Iraqi military officiais, attempting to
display their competence and fealty.
Major General Kurt Cichowski, who
attended the ceremony, said: "It is a major
step forward in improving security
and strengthening the authority of the
government."
There was music and chanting and a
karate demonstration. Dozens of new
vehic1es, many paid for by the multinational
forces, were driven around the
stadium, adorned with plastic flowers.
The general public did not attend the
event.
As soldiers paraded past a grandstand
with top American and Iraqi military
officiaIs, as weIl as dozens of tribal
leaders, a group of commandos with
there faces blackened gathered for a
demonstration of their courage.
Each man reached into his right pocket,
pulled out a frog and bit its head off.
They threw the squirming legs to the
ground as the leader of the group held
aloft a live rabbit. He slit its belly and
plunged his mouth into the gash. The
carcass was then passed around to the
rest of the soldiers who aIl took a bite.
It was explained later that this practice
was especially popular among Saddam
Hussein's feared Fedayeen militia,
whose members had done the same
thing with live snakes and wolves.
• Abizaid to retire in early '07
General John Abizaid, who commands
U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan
as head of the Centtal Command,
plans to retire early next year, his command
said Wednesday, Reuters reported
from Washington. The departure of
Abizaid, 55,who bas served in his post
since July 2003, longer than any previous
commander, could set the stage for
strategie changes under review by Bush.
60