Weapons plan principles to be announced in early October, Hikma spox says

BAGHDAD — The government will announce the general principles of its weapons plan at the beginning of October and implement them gradually afterwards, a Hikma Movement spokesperson said, with the armed factions having submitted a written list of demands.

“The general principles concerning placing weapons under state control will be announced at the beginning of the 10th month,” Hossam al-Hassani said in a televised interview. “Placing weapons under state control will not happen at the push of a button, nor will it happen within a month, because that is not possible. But after announcing the general principles, the Iraqi government will gradually begin, with the brothers in the factions, the process of placing weapons under state control within specified timeframes and mechanisms.”

That puts nothing on Sept. 30 itself. “Sept. 30 is not doomsday, and we should remain calm,” he said. “Rather, it is the day of the completion of national sovereignty and the withdrawal of the international coalition from Iraq.”

The Coordination Framework committee handling the file met faction leaders separately and together in talks lasting hours, he said. “The latest meetings resulted in the submission of a paper containing the factions’ demands regarding placing weapons under state control. This means that the brothers in the factions have accepted the principle of placing weapons under state control.” The demands are pitched high for bargaining, he said: “The factions’ ceilings are high, but the hearts are clear, meaning there is no resentment or hostility. These are negotiating ceilings that are elevated at some levels for the purpose of negotiation.” The paper was presented alongside the government’s position and the Framework’s.

The factions were set up to protect the political system, he said, but the state “cannot be built with two weapons.”

Nouri al-Maliki said on Wednesday that faction leaders had responded to the committee, without saying how. 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 has since said the date marks the start of talks rather than a deadline, Maliki said this month that disarmament was no longer the term being used, and Harakat al-Nujaba said the Framework had dropped the call to restrict weapons to the state in favour of regulating them.

Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada continue to refuse the process; Saraya al-Salam, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Imam Ali Battalions have moved toward compliance.