LOC15:40
12:40 GMT
BAGHDAD, Dec 22 (KUNA) -- Iraq's government will not allow the neighborhood
patrols known as Sahwa (Awakening) forces, to become independent militias,
Iraqi Defense Minister General Abdel-Qader al-Obeidi said on Saturday.
"We totally reject them (the neighbourhood patrols) turning into a third
military organization" separate from the Defense and Interior forces,
al-Obeidi told a joint press conference with Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani.
Everybody has to know "There will never be a third force. The only two
forces are the Ministries of Defense and Interior."
He added that the Sahwa would not have headquarters of their own but would
be a part of the Iraqi armed forces.
Al-Obeidi's remarks come one day after head of the majority at the Iraqi
Parliament Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, called for the Sahwa patrols to be brought
under government control.
The Sahwa patrols, including bout 71,000, among them former insurgents who
fought against the US and Iraqi military, have helped bring down violence in
some of Iraq's most volatile areas.
For his part the Interior Minister said that the improving security
situation in Iraq would not leave a room for any body but to be part of the
political process in the country.
He also lauded the role by the Sawha forces that ousted al-Qaeda al-Anbar
Province and al-Amriyah neighborhood west of Baghdad. They have also
maintained full control of former al-Qaeda in Iraq strongholds in Arab Jabur,
Doura and other parts southern of the Iraqi capital.
The US troops pay most of the patrol members about USD 10 a day, but
Iraqi government said it would take over paying for most of the programme by
mid-2008 and join the patrols to the official forces or government civil
institutions.(end)
ahh.msa
KUNA 221540 Dec 07NNNN