Maliki on militias: ‘disarmament’ has been dropped as a term

BAGHDAD — A committee has been formed with the armed factions to discuss “regulating and containing” their weapons, Nouri al-Maliki said, with the word disarmament deliberately set aside and the scope of what would be handed over still open.

“The term ‘disarmament’ is not being used because the other side may then be described as disarmed, and this has a psychological and practical effect,” the State of Law leader said in a televised interview. “The better term is regulating weapons or containing them, and we are looking for a way to contain them.”

What the process covers is now itself a question. “There are priorities for this approach at the present time, and there is a distinction between heavy, medium and light weapons,” Maliki said. “Does preserving or containing weapons include everything? Or only a type of weapon that is considered a weapon for targeting internally and externally? This is what the committee formed with the factions will resolve.”

He said the earlier tone had produced nothing. “The language that prevailed, which was one of challenge, threats and warnings, has ended, because threats do not produce results,” he said. “Calls for confrontation and attacks on headquarters and attacks on the government do not produce results. The government is not weak so that it can be attacked, nor is it in the interest of the factions for them to be attacked.”

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said in Washington in July that there would be no justification for armed factions after Sept. 30. His security adviser Qasim al-Araji said in late August that the date marks the start of talks rather than a deadline for handing over weapons. Sources have told 964media that the Coordination Framework formed a committee of Hadi al-Amiri, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Maliki on the file after the visit of Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada continue to refuse while foreign forces remain; Saraya al-Salam, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Imam Ali Battalions have moved toward compliance. The command arrangements for those complying have not been detailed, with statements using terms such as control, integration and restructuring without saying whether fighters would be absorbed individually into army units or stay as formations.