KARBALA: TRIBAL FEUD RESOLUTION IN OFFING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 003032 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2018 TAGS: PGOV KJUS PREL PINR IR IZ SUBJECT: KARBALA: TRIBAL FEUD RESOLUTION IN OFFING REF: A. BAGHDAD 2232 B. BAGHDAD 2182 Classified By: PRT Team Leader Don Cooke for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). This is a PRT Karbala Reporting Cable ¶1. (C) Summary: Resolution of the long-simmering dispute between Shi'a tribes in Karbala's eastern Ayn al-Tamr district and Sunni tribes in neighboring al-Rahaliyah in al-Anbar Province now appears possible. In response to a request from PRT Karbala, a prominent mediator has brought leaders from both sides together to negotiate directly. Political developments, particularly the weakening of al-Qa'ida's influence in al-Anbar, also are helping to defuse tensions. End Summary. Flashpoint Revisited -------------- ¶2. (C) As we detailed in ref A, Shi'a tribes in Karbala's eastern Ayn al-Tamr district have been feuding for more than a year with Sunni tribes living across the border in the al-Rahaliyah area of al-Anbar Province. At issue is the murder in June 2007 of six Ayn al-Tamr tribesmen--including the son of a prominent shaykh--allegedly by residents of al-Rahaliyah. The Ayn al-Tamr tribes have demanded the al-Rahaliyah tribes hand over the alleged murderers and pay steep blood-money compensation; the al-Rahaliyah tribes deny the suspects are from among their kin, are unable to meet the Karbalans' blood-money demand, and have refused to enforce a Karbala court order to arrest the wanted men. ¶3. (C) Numerous officials, including the governors of both provinces and representatives of Prime Minister Maliki have tried without success to broker an agreement under tribal law that would end the dispute. In July 2008, Ali Husayn Abid Ali, head of Karbala's Tribal Affairs Department, reported to the PRT that an agreement he had brokered--predicated on the Ayn al-Tamr tribes being flexible concerning blood money--fell apart when the Ayn al-Tamr tribes reverted to their original, extortionate demand. Abid Ali expressed serious concern about the potential for the feud to devolve into a broader Shi'a-Sunni conflict and asked the PRT to help end it. Finding a Mediator -------------- ¶4. (C) PRT officers spoke with numerous officials concerning the dispute in an effort to determine the best means of facilitating a resolution. A near-unanimous chorus of voices said the issue boiled down to money: Help the al-Rahaliyah tribes meet the Ayn al-Tamr blood-money price and the issue will go away. We looked into the possibility of leveraging funds, possibly from CERP, to cover the blood-money shortfall in the name of "reconciliation." We found no monies, from CERP or any other source, available to be used for such a purpose. Moreover, we also determined that enabling a tribal-law solution to the dispute would not be in the best interest of our rule-of-law mandate; the alleged killers should be brought to justice. ¶5. (C) A helpful suggestion came from a surprising source, Ayn al-Tamr Mayor Mahfouz al-Tamimi. During a visit in August by Team Borlaug to his district, he reiterated to PRT officers his concern that the feud would permanently damage relations with the desert-dwelling al-Rahaliyah tribes, whose members were suffering hardship as a result of being barred from entering the oasis of Ayn al-Tamr to trade and visit friends and relatives (despite their sectarian differences, intermarriage between the Shi'a and Sunni tribes is common). Asked whether he could recommend someone who might be successful in mediating the dispute, the mayor replied that Ali Kamonah, the former governor who now heads the UNAMI Government Liaison Office in Karbala, was respected by both communities and might stand a chance. A tribal shaykh in his own right, Kamonah heads a prominent Karbala clan and has close ties to Shi'a and Sunni religious figures throughout Iraq. Kamonah on the Case -------------- ¶6. (C) PRT duly contacted Kamonah, who readily agreed to help broker and end to the feud. During a meeting at FOB Husayniyah in late August, he said he had been following the issue for some time and believed he could prevail on both sides to see reason. A strong proponent of rule-of-law, he agreed that an ideal resolution would be predicated on those responsible being apprehended and tried in a court of law rather than the question of their guilt or innocence being rendered moot by the payment of blood-money in the context of a tribal settlement. BAGHDAD 00003032 002 OF 002 ¶7. (C) Kamonah returned to the FOB to meet with PRT officers on September 14. He said he believed that an end to the dispute was in the offing. Time, he noted, had enabled both sides to see the issue more clearly. The Ayn al-Tamr tribes realized that their blood-money demands could never be met, while the al-Rahaliyah tribes understood that justice demanded the rendering of those responsible for the murders. Kamonah said he succeeded in bringing leaders from both sides together for an ongoing series of weekly meetings at the neutral ground of the Ahmad bin Hashim shrine. The shaykhs, he observed, agreed that that allowing the judicial process to go forward offered a better means than tribal law of enabling all the salient issues to be addressed. Light at the End of the Tunnel -------------- ¶8. (C) Kamonah told PRT officers that he estimates the dispute could be resolved in several months' time. He said that al-Rahaliyah representatives are pressing al-Anbar officials to enforce the Karbala court order seeking the apprehension of four men identified as the alleged murderers. For their part, Ayn al-Tamr's mayor and district council have pledged to allow al-Rahaliyah residents back in to visit and trade as soon as any arrests are made. ¶9. (C) According to Kamonah, political developments also are producing greater flexibility on both sides. In al-Anbar, the weakening of al-Qa'ida's influence has emboldened al-Rahaliyah officials who heretofore feared retribution for giving up the wanted men. Karbala's continued strong security environment has taken the teeth out of Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) threats in Ayn al-Tamr, while Iran remains mistrusted by the tribes here and appears to be focused on exercising its influence through the tourism sector (ref B). Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Comment: Kamonah's sanguine assessment is encouraging and we are gratified that PRT involvement has helped shift this sticky dispute off the provincial center stage, even if a resolution may not be immediately forthcoming. Ending the feud between the tribes of Ayn al-Tamr and al-Rahaliyah through recourse to the judicial system would send a strong message of hope for the future of civil society in Iraq. End Comment. CROCKER