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Iraq's Top Shi'ite Party Changes Platform, Distances itself from Shi'ite Iran
May 12, 2007 Reuters Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's biggest Shi'ite party on Saturday pledged its allegiance to the country's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in a move that would distance it from Shi'ite Iran where it was formed. The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said it had introduced significant policy changes and changed its name to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) -- dropping the word "Revolution". Party officials told Reuters on Friday that the changes were aimed at giving the party more of an Iraqi flavour and to reflect the changing situation in the country since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. They said the party had been close to Sistani for some time, but a two-day conference on Baghdad that ended on Friday had formalised relations with the influential cleric. "We cherish the great role played by the religious establishment headed by Grand Ayatollah Sayed Ali al-Sistani ... in preserving the unity of Iraq and the blood of Iraqis and in helping them building a political system based on the constitution and law," said Rida Jawad al-Takki, a senior group member, who read out the party's decisions to reporters. The party pledged to follow the guidance of the Shi'ite establishment, he said. Sistani, a reclusive figure who lives in the Iraqi holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, is the spiritual leader of Iraq's majority Shi'ites. He rarely makes public statements but his utterances are closely monitored by his followers. Officials said the party, which was formed in Iran in the 1980s to oppose Saddam, had previously taken its guidance from the religious establishment of Welayat al Faqih, led by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran. Islamic experts say the authority of the Faqih, who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice, is not limited to his home country, but extends to all Shi'ites who pledge obedience and believe in the Faqih. The Faqih has the final word on matters related to Islam from political, social and religious issues. SIIC's leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is a powerful cleric who has good relations with the United States. A key player in post-Saddam Iraqi politics, SIIC holds around a quarter of the seats in parliament occupied by the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Iraq and Iran fought a bitter war for eight years in the 1980s. Relations have improved since the fall of Saddam, although Iraqi leaders have to walk a delicate line between the United States and Iran, which are at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear programme and the violence in Iraq.

Yemen Recalls Envoys from Iran
May 12, 2007 Reuters

SANAA -- Yemen said on Saturday it was recalling its ambassadors to Iran and Libya over what it sees as their support for Shi'ite Muslim rebels involved in bloody clashes with government forces. Yemeni officials have accused Iran and Libya of backing rebels led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi in the northern province of Saada. The two countries have denied the allegation. "The government will consult with the two ambassadors on the developments in Saada," Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told Reuters. The rebel deny receiving Iranian or Libyan support. Meanwhile, a rebel leader welcomed remarks by Qirbi in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that the government would consider talks with the rebels if they lay down their guns. "This call is in the right direction, and there is no reason to launch this huge war against us," Yahya al-Houthi, an exiled brother of the rebel leader, said in a statement issued in Germany and faxed to reporters in Yemen. "We and our supporters are ready to obey the state provided that the state ... carries out its responsibilities towards the citizens." Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes due to the heavy clashes between the rebels, from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam, and government forces. The government of Sunni-dominated Yemen accuses the rebels of seeking to oust its secular administration and install Islamist rule. The rebels say they are defending their villages against what they call government aggression. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the army in January to crack down on Houthi and his group, whom the government says preaches violence against the United States. The conflict has raged on and off since 2004. The flare-up began when the rebels attacked government forces who set up a checkpoint deeper inside Saada. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities. Houthi's backers are not linked to al Qaeda.