Federalism Debate Rumbles On

Kadhim Jawad Salman, a 60-year-old pensioner from Babil, wants his hometown to enjoy the prosperity he thinks it deserves.

“Our governorate is one of the richest in Iraq for its religious tourism, architectural sites and agriculture,” he said. “But its people are living in misery due to oppression and aggression by the former Saddam Hussein regime.”

The way out, he said, is a federal region encompassing Babil, Najaf and Karbala, which he hopes would bring about an improvement in living and economic conditions.

As the committee drafting the constitution continues debating how the country should be administered, there have been growing calls for the creation of semi-autonomous regions similar to Iraqi Kurdistan.

Advocates of federalism say it is the best way to ensure equal rights and opportunities across Iraq. But such plans have drawn little support from Sunnis on the constitution committee, who say it will split the country into pieces.

“When I sit down in the constitution committee, it makes me sick what I hear from the members trying to divide Iraq,” said Salih al-Mutlak, a Sunni member. “They suggested three regions and now it turned into 16. Each governorate is asking for a federal region.”

These areas, which would share some ministries and government offices, would reduce the power of the central administration, grouping governorates along geographic and sectarian lines.

For months, the southeastern governorates of Missan, Thi-Qar and oil-rich Basra have discussed forming their own region. The Kurdish governorates of Dohuk, Irbil and Sulaimaniyah have been semi-autonomous since the Gulf War in 1991.

Some Sunnis have instead proposed a decentralisation that would give more freedom to the governorates, but would fall short of dividing the country into autonomous zones.

“Federalism will split Iraq into small states, and we refuse it in general and in detail,” said Hasan Zaydan al-Lahabi, another Sunni committee member.

Al-Mutlak said those who ask for federalism want to “slay Iraq”.

“Our view about refusing federalism is correct and the evidence is the demonstrations most of Iraq’s areas witnessed, which denounced federalism.”

Sadradin al-Qubanji, of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq’s Najaf office, takes the opposite view. He said there should be no problem with federalism, because it doesn’t pose any religious, legal or political threat. It has been approved by the Transitional Administrative Law and is supported by many politicians and clerics, he said.

But, al-Qubanji added, it should be applied in a way that preserves the political and cultural unity of Iraq, instead of dividing the country.

On that point at least there is some agreement.

“There are no concerns about federalism as a system, only about how it is applied,” said Ayad al-SamaraI, a Sunni constitution committee member from the Iraqi Islamic Party.

Yaseen al-Rubaie is an IWPR trainee in Baghdad.