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Complex
18 September 2012

Coverage
Comprehensive Information on Complex Crises

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Iraq Mali Syria 1 2 3

This document provides complex coverage of global events, with hyper-links to source material highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to events in the region, contact the members of the Complex Coverage Team, or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

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Iraq

Linda Lavender linda.lavender@cimicweb.org

On 14 September, the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan announced that it would keep oil flowing as part of an agreement between the central and regional governments, reports Reuters. Under the new agreement, Baghdad will pay USD 857 million in past due remittances to foreign companies working in the Kurdish region. The agreement only addresses a portion of the broader issues between Baghdad and Kurdistan over oil and territory; however, the parties did agree to establish a committee to resolve any issues that would prevent the implementation of the agreement. The Iraqi parliament, voting largely along sectarian lines, approved new board members for the countrys Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on 17 September, reports Middle East Online. The eight new members include four appointees from the Shiite National Alliance, two from the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition and two from the Kurdish Alliance. A ninth Iraqi minority member will also be appointed. UN envoy Martin Kobler emphasised that the commission was the most important guarantee of holding free and fair elections in Iraq. Meanwhile, outgoing head of the IHEC Faraj al Haidari, along with two former IHEC members, were convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to suspended one-year prison terms. BBC reports that Turkish officials will not return Vice President Tariq al Hashemi, in the wake of the 09 September guilty verdict in his court case. Hashemi, who faces the death penalty if returned to Iraq, has been residing in Turkey since April 2012. Hashemi has maintained that the charges against him are politically motivated. Reuters reports that Hashemi called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki a conspirator working in tandem with fellow Shiites in Iran. For many Iraqis, the Hashemi case was a clear example of political

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For further information, contact: Complex Coverage Team Leader Linda Lavender linda.lavender@cimicweb.org Complex Coverage Desk Officer Angelia Sanders angelia.sanders@cimicweb.org

manipulation of the judiciary by a Shiite leader who also controls the security forces and other vital defence and interior ministries. Also, Hashemi asserts that Maliki is failing to stop ammunitions and armaments from reaching Assad forces, according to Reuters. Syria is a complicating factor in the delicate sectarian balance within Iraq. Leadership of Shiite Iraq and Iran fear the collapse of Assads government could splinter Syria along sectarian lines and possibly lead to a hardline Sunni government hostile to Baghdad. The Iraqi al Qaim checkpoint in Anbar province remains closed to those fleeing violence in Syria despite the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urgings that the border crossings remain open to Syrian refugees. UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie made the recommendations after a recent visit to Kurdistan, according to Reuters. The Iraqi border crossing and its Syrian counterpart at Albu Kamal, now controlled by opposition fighters, are on a strategic supply route for smugglers, gun-runners and now insurgents seeking to join antiAssad fighters. Iraqi leaders have sealed the crossing citing security concerns but some Iraqis assert that the border closure is to lend passive support to the Assad government by preventing the flow of assistance to Syrian opposition groups. The border sees 200 to 300 Syrian refugees arrive daily seeking shelter. In other reSource: al Arabiya gional events, Maliki met with Syrian Opposition leaders from the Syrian National Council and urged the delegation to learn from Iraqs experience in establishing a new political system amidst sectarian violence, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Maliki discussed the recent developments in Syrias violence and ways to stop the bloodshed and find a basic political solution. On 10 September, in southern Baghdad, a bomb detonated on a minibus killing three civilians south of Baghdad, while on the same day a car bomb detonated near a coffee shop in Bayaa killing three people, according to AFP. In Kirkuk, gunmen killed a high ranking Iraqi security official. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that continued Turkish anti-terrorism operations along its shared border with Iraq have killed more than 80 Kurdish militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). On 13 September, as part of the backlash from an anti-Islamic film, an Iraqi Shiite militant group threatened US interests in Iraq, according to Associated Press (AP). The warning came as Shiite followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al Sadr demanded the closure of the US Embassy in Baghdad in response to the films depiction of the Muslim Prophet Mohamed. According to CNN hundreds of Iraqi people publically protested in the streets on 14 September. Seven Iraqis were killed and eleven others injured when a suicide car bomber attacked Baghdads Green Zone, according to Reuters.
Iraq Closes al-Qaim Border Crossing

Mali

Angelia Sanders angelia.sanders@cimicweb.org

Six key points emerged from a high-level roundtable on peace and security threats in the Sahel held by the International Peace Institute and co-organised with the African Union (AU) and the Permanent Mission of Luxembourg to the UN. Regarding Mali, the belief emerged that a negotiated settlement in Mali is unlikely due to the fact that the current government institutions are too weak and the political elite and the security apparatus are too divided to be effective negotiating partners. As such, military intervention is increasingly probable. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) held an emergency meeting from 14 to 15 September to review a request by the Government of Mali to ECOWAS soliciting assistance to recover the occupied territory in the North of Mali as well as combat terrorism. The CCDS called on Malian authorities to comply with UN Resolution 2056 on the total withdrawal of the National Council for the Recovery and Restoration of the State (CNDRE) (the leaders of the March 2012 coup), from the political arena. The CCDS also instructed authorities to intensify efforts for an interMalian dialogue with the rebels. On 17 September, West African defence and foreign ministers met for talks on the possible deployment of regional troops to Mali, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). ECOWAS has had 3,300 regional troops on standby for months awaiting a formal request from Mali to the UN Security Council for approval of a military deployment. Malis interim President Dioncounda Traore has made it clear that the deployment of active military forces would not be needed in the capital Bamako and that troops would be providing logistics, air support and will be involved in law and order operations after the North of the country has been retaken. ECOWAS is soliciting the support of neighbouring, non-ECOWAS governments Algeria and Mauritania to help facilitate the deployment of the ECOWAS Mission in Mali (MICEMA). In other diplomatic news, the Malian and Mauritanian foreign ministers met over the shooting of sixteen Muslim men, including eight Mauritanians, at a checkpoint in Mali on 08 September, reports AFP. The Malian foreign minister was said to have made the visit in order to personally express the governments compassion and regret for the deaths. Residents and hospital staff in the northern city of Gao reported that the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) cut off the hands and feet of five suspected robbers, signifying the first time the group has carried out group amputations, reports Reuters. In a phone interview with the Associated Press (AP), one of the amputees described the public punishment, 18 September 2012 Page 2

which is based on strict Sharia law. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Navi Pillay condemned the on-going human rights violations in northern Mali. Pillay stated that these violations include cruel punishments, such as amputations, the stoning to death of an unmarried couple, summary executions, recruitment of child soldiers, as well as violations of womens rights, childrens rights, freedom of expression, the rights to food, health, education, to freedom of religion and belief, and cultural rights. She expressed that she is afraid the humanitarian and human rights situation in the whole of the Sahel region will dangerously deteriorate if the crisis in Northern Mali is not urgently addressed. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that the situation in northern Mali is becoming more and more alarming and that thousands are dependent on humanitarian aid. Those affected urgently need food, and medical care and other humanitarian services. The public sector is no longer providing basic health care or supplying clean drinking water, states Yasmine Praz Dessimoz, ICRCs head of operations for North and West Africa, because many skilled civil servants fled the fighting. Food prices in the market are considered too high for most families to afford. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), food insecurity in the region could be exacerbated by Desert Locusts in Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Plentiful rains over the last few months led to unusually favourable ecological conditions that have allowed for a second generation of Desert Locust to breed in September. More than 50 million people could be affected by swarms of locusts in November which will coincide with the harvest of this years crops in the Sahel. If left unaddressed, the swarms will likely migrate to Algeria, Libya, northwest Mauritania and perhaps Morocco.
Food Distribution in Northern Mali

Source: ICRC

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) confirmed that one of its top military commanders in North Africa, Nabil Sahrawi, an Algerian national, died in a car accident in northern Mali during the week of 11 September, reports Reuters.

Syria

Linda Lavender linda.lavender@cimicweb.org

The humanitarian situation within Syria has been significantly underreported, according to the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) as the international community is focusing on the refugees displaced from Syria as a result of the escalating conflict between government and opposition forces. IRIN identified ten pressing issues within Syria that will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis including a shortage of medicine, the approach of winter, and the rise of criminality as unemployment skyrockets, the intentional targeting of civilians in breadlines, and the underfunding of assistance in key sectors such as water and sanitation that can lead to widespread disease. Additionally, the UN and Human Rights Watch report that both Assads forces and the armed opposition are committing severe human rights abuses, according to al Jazeera. The UN said the number of people fleeing Syria has increased exponentially from 18,500 in June to 35,000 in July to 102,000 in August, reports New York Times (NYT). Nearly 2,000 Syrians continue to cross the border into Jordan every day. Activists say that the mass displacements have set off war profiteering in the region. AP reports that Turkey has begun to move tens of thousands of Syrian refugees away from the border area to northern Turkey in order to relieve pressure on local border communities and to better address security concerns. Meanwhile, Greece is taking measures to fortify the Aegean Sea and its border with Turkey due to concerns of a possible influx of illegal immigrants according to AFP. The NYT reports many Syrians who have fled violence in their country are now engaged in relief efforts for Syrian refugees in Jordan. Syrian volunteers in Jordan are involved in efforts to obtain medication, clothing and provide activities for children in border camps. Syrian regime airstrikes targeted rebel-held police stations in the countrys largest city of Aleppo, at the same time the UN-Arab Envoy to Syria, Lathka Brahimi, met with Syrian leadership to discuss halting the violence, according to AFP. Brahimis visit also included meetings with representatives from the Syrian opposition to discuss new ideas for ending the conflict, according to al Arabiya. Meanwhile, an independent UN panel confirmed that increasing numbers of foreign elements, including jihadists, have joined the Syrian conflict, according to AP. The panel underscored the implications of foreign fighters which could push anti-government fighters towards more radical ideologies in the conflict. AP reports that in a letter to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Syrias Foreign Minister accused 18 September 2012
Death Toll in the Syrian Conflict (as of 16 Sep 2012)

Source: Syrian Revolution Martyr Database as of 16 Sep 2012

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Turkey of allowing thousands of al Qaeda, Takfiri and Wahabbi terrorists access to Syria through its shared border. After two months of intense fighting in Aleppo, there is a distinct religious tone to fighting with some stating that this is not a revolution; its a jihad, according to McClatchy. Lending credibility to terrorism concerns, al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri has called on all Muslims to support rebels in Syria stating that the ousting of the Assad regime would bring them one step closer to defeating Israel, according to Reuters. Saudi Arabia, however, is attempting to dissuade citizens, incensed at the broadcasted bloody images of the Syrian conflict, from travelling to Syria to join with rebels against Assad, according to a separate Reuters report. In other news, Egypts recent meetings with Iran encouraged Iranian leadership to end its support of the Assad regime in exchange for help in easing Tehrans growing regional isolation, reports AP. The offer is the centrepiece of a diplomatic initiative by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to end the Syrian conflict. After meeting with Egyptian leaders, Iranian leadership hailed Egypts aim of pulling together a new contact group to discuss Syria, but sought to expand the group to include Iranian allies Iraq and Venezuela, according to AFP. AP reports that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela indicated he would consider a proposal to join a group of non-aligned nations to solve the Syrian crisis while he continued his outspoken support of the Assad regime. As Lebanon continues to resist being pulled into the Syrian conflict, on 17 September, Syrian warplanes fired four missiles into Lebanese territory in what is considered to be one of the most serious cross-border violations in the eighteen-month-old uprising, AP reports. Also, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman asked Irans ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabad, to clarify remarks made by Revolutionary Guard Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari that Quds force members have been in Syria and Lebanon as advisors [to Assad forces] for a long time, according to the Daily Star. The Iranian ambassador denied comments made by the top commander of the guards. Reuters reports that the leader of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, was sanctioned by the US Treasury in a largely symbolic gesture for aiding Assads violent campaign against the Syrian people and undermining regional stability by posing a direct threat to Lebanons security.

Other Complex Coverage Resources:

Syrian Opposition

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18 September 2012

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