United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan sounded one more
alarm bell to remind the international community of the critical
situation in Iraq.
His alert is no exaggeration.
Annan informed the heads of state at the annual General Assembly
meeting in New York on Monday that the nation is in "grave danger"
of falling into civil war.
Indeed, sectarian violence and insurgent attacks have come to be
daily news.
The country is far from being on the road to freedom, peace and
prosperity as assured by the US-led coalition forces. On the
contrary, it is sliding into civil war.
Ill-prepared military blunders and a lack of post-conflict
planning have created far more problems than existed in the first
place.
Far from dealing a body blow to terrorism, the war on Iraq has
ripped open a hornets' nest of ruthless, pitiless, pointless
violence. The awful reality for the coalition troops and, most
importantly, for the great mass of Iraqis themselves is that
violence, in its still-rising intensity, is neither comprehensible
nor escapable.
Iraq has become one of the most violent conflict areas in the
world, with violence spreading north into the comparatively
peaceful Kurdish areas of Diyala and Kirkuk.
Annan urged Iraqi leaders to crack down on sectarian killings
that have left thousands of people dead since the February bombing
of a revered Shi'ite Muslim shrine, and to step up efforts to
resolve religious and ethnic differences.
The more than 150 bodies found last week dumped across Baghdad
are a case in point. The killings were believed to result from
Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian hostilities.
Meanwhile, insurgent bombings of crude oil pipelines have
crippled the country's oil industry, the lifeblood of its
economy.
The mounting violence underscores the coalition forces' failure
to achieve a political solution a unity government in Iraq.
While the spread of violence revives talk of civil war in the
country, the international efforts to aid it seem to be a mission
impossible.
Iraqi officials ask for strategic injections of aid to plug gaps
in their country. They met with the UN and foreign donors on Sunday
to prepare a road map for the reconstruction of Iraq and try to
make the country economically self-sufficient within five
years.
Under the initiative, called the International Compact for Iraq,
the country would seek aid from governments and multilateral
organizations while encouraging private-sector investment into its
strategic oil industry.
The economically volatile country is thirsty for money. Throwing
bucks into the pot, however, is not the cure.
What the country needs is a road map to make real political
equilibrium possible and restore general stability.
Relentless bombings, shootings and kidnappings have kept foreign
companies away from Iraq. So long as such daily violence continues,
international assistance can hardly deliver a miracle.
(China Daily September 20, 2006)
