[Previous entry: "The Murder of George Jackson"] [Next entry: "Suicide bomber dies in Afghan attack on Canadians"]

03/04/2006:

"New leadership crisis as Iraq descends into anarchy"

A bomb ripped through a vegetable market in a Shia section of Baghdad and a senior Sunni leader escaped assassination as at least 36 people were killed yesterday in a surge of violence that pushed Iraq closer still to sectarian civil war.

An aide to Ibrahim al- Jaafari, the Prime Minister, meanwhile, lashed out at Sunni, Kurdish and secular political leaders who have mounted a campaign to deny him another term, saying the Shia United Iraqi alliance will not change its candidate.
independent.co.uk



Shiites in Iraqi city of Basra threaten boycott of oil and goods
Basra/Baghdad - The influential Shiite-Islamic Fadhila Party in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra on Friday threatened to halt the traffic of oil and other goods from southern Iraq into the centre of the country.

The threat would be carried out if the party's demands were not taken into consideration in the formation of the future Iraqi government, said Fadhila party leader Sheikh Sabah al-Saedi in his Friday sermon in Basra.

Among the party's demands were that there would be no 'remnants of the old regime' of Saddam Hussein in the new government and that the ministries of the interior and defence would remain in the hands of the Shiite alliance.

Previously cabinet talks had centred on promoting Sunni leadership of at least one of the 'armed' ministries (interior or defence) for the sake of national unity.

Al-Saedi also called for the 'execution' of Saddam Hussein, who persecuted Shiites and is currently standing trial before a special tribunal in Baghdad.

According to observers, the threat to hinder the flow of goods and oil would be an extreme form of pressure, as two thirds of Iraq's oil is found in the south of the country, and production and transport of oil from the north has practically been brought to a standstill by insurgent acts of sabotage.

In addition, Basra is the only sea sea port the country has.