ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Negotiations between a three-member Shiite committee and three Iran-backed armed groups regarding disarmament mechanisms are in progress, a senior leader from the ruling Coordination Framework told Rudaw on Tuesday.
Amer al-Fayez, head of the Tasmim Alliance, one of the 12 parties that make up the ruling Coordination Framework, told Rudaw's Hastyar Qadir the committee has begun talks with Kata’ib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, which have yet to cooperate with the government’s arms transfer framework.
“The committee has begun its work and has contacted the three groups,” Fayez said. “What remains is the mechanism for handing over and storing the weapons.”
He said progress had been made in the negotiations and expressed confidence that an agreement could be reached before September 30, the scheduled end of the US-led international coalition mission in Iraq.
The three-member committee consists of Nouri al-Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition; Hadi al-Amiri, secretary-general of the Badr Organization; and former Prime Minister and head of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition (RDC) Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
Fayez said the armed groups have set conditions for surrendering their weapons, including the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Iraq, including the Turkish army.
The talks are part of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's initiative to bring weapons under state control, which calls for armed groups to hand over and register their weapons and sever ties between their political organizations and their armed wings within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
Rudaw has learned from the Coordination Framework officials that the committee will report on the negotiations during the alliance’s weekly meetings until an agreement is reached.
To date, Saraya al-Salam, Kata’ib Imam Ali and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq have agreed to comply with the weapons-restriction process and sever ties with their fighters within the PMF.
The disarmament push has become a key security issue as Iraq prepares for the scheduled departure of the international coalition on September 30. Baghdad and Washington agreed on the date for the withdrawal of US and coalition forces, while the Iraqi government has also set the same deadline for armed factions to hand over their weapons.
At least three Iran-backed factions – Kata’ib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada – have so far refused to disarm. The groups operate under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and overlap with the state-sponsored PMF.
