(KUNA) -- Iraq's government will not allow the neighborhood patrols known as Sahwa (Awakening) forces, to become independent militias, Iraqi Defense Minister General Abdel-Qader al-Obeidi said on Saturday. "We totally reject them (the neighbourhood patrols) turning into a third military organization" separate from the Defense and Interior forces, al-Obeidi told a joint press conference with Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani. Everybody has to know "There will never be a third force. The only two forces are the Ministries of Defense and Interior." He added that the Sahwa would not have headquarters of their own but would be a part of the Iraqi armed forces.
Al-Obeidi's remarks come one day after head of the majority at the Iraqi Parliament Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, called for the Sahwa patrols to be brought under government control. The Sahwa patrols, including bout 71,000, among them former insurgents who fought against the US and Iraqi military, have helped bring down violence in some of Iraq's most volatile areas. For his part the Interior Minister said that the improving security situation in Iraq would not leave a room for any body but to be part of the political process in the country. He also lauded the role by the Sawha forces that ousted al-Qaeda al-Anbar Province and al-Amriyah neighborhood west of Baghdad. They have also maintained full control of former al-Qaeda in Iraq strongholds in Arab Jabur, Doura and other parts southern of the Iraqi capital.
The US troops pay most of the patrol members about USD 10 a day, but Iraqi government said it would take over paying for most of the programme by mid-2008 and join the patrols to the official forces or government civil institutions. |