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Allawi demands Fallujah hard boyz surrender
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi appealed to militants in Fallujah to lay down their weapons and allow Iraqi forces to enter the rebel enclave peacefully, as the army vowed to press ahead with the fight. Allawi also appointed a temporary military governor for the vast western Al-Anbar province which includes Fallujah and Ramadi as he sought to reach out to powerful Sunni Muslim tribal leaders in the restive area. He later met in Baghdad with a group of Sunni and Shiite clerics for dinner. "Iraqi military forces are ready to enter Fallujah peacefully and assert their authority after armed men and terrorists lay down their weapons," his spokesman Thaer al-Naqib said, reading a statement by Allawi. "A peaceful solution is possible even if the fighting is ongoing." Naqib said that Allawi was "determined to involve all elements of Iraqi society in the political process and to build a solid democratic regime." He said the powerful al-Dulaimi tribe in Anbar would declare its support for the government very soon. Allawi, a secular Shiite, was also in contact with the Anbar members of the large Al-Shamar tribe and they too were "responsive and very cooperative and declared their complete support of the government," added Naqib. Iraq 's President Ghazi al-Yawar, who has been critical in the past of the military option to deal with Fallujah, hails from the same tribe. Amid the talk, the US military closed in on the centre of Fallujah less than 24 hours after launching the massive operation to retake it from rebel hands, claiming it was now in control of one third of the city. Sunni and Shiite figures have condemned the assault, with one Sunni political party quitting the government in protest and the most influential religious Sunni group in Iraq calling for a boycott of the upcoming elections. The Sunni department chief at the religious affairs ministry asked Allawi to stop the fighting for four to five hours so wounded civilians could be evacuated. "You are responsible for their lives in front of God," Sheikh Adnan al-Dulaimi told Allawi during a dinner meeting with the prime minister. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-09 |
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