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Shia clerics filling power void

NAJAF (Iraq) APRIL 17. In this holiest of Shia cities, clerics are running a self-declared Government. It's the same in nearby Karbala, another sacred Shia city.

Shia clerics have in the past week moved swiftly to fill the power void created by Saddam Hussein's ouster — appointing governors, imposing curfews, offering protection, jobs, health care and giving financial assistance to the needy.

In some respects, they have replaced Mr. Hussein as Iraq's new leadership. They distrust the Americans who rid them of Mr. Hussein's tyranny and have little faith in the Opposition leaders now returning to Iraq from years in exile. They also question whether Western democratic values are suited for their country. And, they seem unwilling to surrender authority to a central government they don't like.

Shias make up 60 per cent of Iraq's 24 million people, but have traditionally been pushed to the political sidelines by members of Islam's mainstream Sunni sect, of which Mr. Hussein is a member. They have long complained of religious persecution in the previous regime and erupted in jubilation at its downfall, practising their rituals in public for the first time in years.

Scores of Shia pilgrims can now be seen walking on highways and country roads to Najaf and Karbala, carrying the black flags that mourn the 7th century `martyrdom' of al-Hussein, one of the sect's most revered saints. Al-Hussein's shrine is in Karbala, while his father, Imam Ali, son-in-law of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, is buried in Najaf..

DPA reports from Teheran: The leader of the Iraqi Shia Opposition group, SCIRI, today called on all Shias to attend a massive religious gathering in Karbala, southern Iraq, next week. The Iranian news network Khabar quoted Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Bakr el-Hakim of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SCIRI) as saying that all Shias should attend the ceremonies next Wednesday.

AP

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