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Iraq: National honor code to be implemented first in Diyala | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Civilians gather at the site of a bomb attack in the village of Mwafaqiya, in Nineveh province, October 17, 2013. (REUTERS/Stringer)


Civilians gather at the site of a bomb attack in the village of Mwafaqiya, in Nineveh province, October 17, 2013. (REUTERS/Stringer)

Civilians gather at the site of a bomb attack in the village of Mwafaqiya in Nineveh province on October 17, 2013. (REUTERS/Stringer)

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Iraqi government has decided that the National Honor Code aimed at promoting civil and social peace will be first implemented in the turbulent governorate of Diyala, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned.

The agreement was reached following this week’s meeting between Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, Parliament Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi, and Vice-President Khodair Al-Khozaei.

Parliamentary Rapporteur Mohammed Al-Khalidi said in a press conference on Thursday that Maliki, Nujaifi and Khozaei “held a meeting in Al-Khozaei’s residence [and] decided that the national honor code will be first implemented in Diyala governorate,” citing “the dangerous situation it is witnessing.”

“The attendees stressed the necessity of finding quick solutions for the security breaches in Diyala,” he said, adding that the “three presidencies have agreed to form a committee from the office of the general commander of the Armed Forces in order to find quick solutions for the situation in the governorate.”

According to Khalidi, this “supreme committee has wide powers and will visit the governorate to find solutions to restore security and stability to Diyala,” indicating that the “deteriorating situation there will affect all governorates.”

Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, the governor of Diyala, Omar Al-Humairi, emphasized the “positive results of the meeting,” adding that the “coming period will witness government steps to support civil and social peace and resolve issues of the forced displacement and instability.”

Khalidi said: “The Iraqi vice-president [Khozaei] pledged to head a high-level government delegation to visit Diyala in order to provide means of support for the local government in stabilizing and strengthening, especially with regards to issues of construction and building.”

Over the past few months, Diyala has seen people fleeing the violence caused by Al-Qaeda-affiliated elements.

In other news from Iraq, a police source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that people carrying out suicide bombings in Al-Anbar Province recently were not of Arab origin.

“The suicide bombings and attacks that took place in different areas in Anbar, including Fallujah and Ramadi, were carried out by non-Arab suicide bombers,” the source said.

He said: “The initial investigations into the attacks against Fallujah’s police and electricity authorities in the past three days have revealed the identity of two of the suicide bombers, one from Mongolia and the other from Senegal, and there are suspicions that the third is from Pakistan.”

The source cited the “lack of monitoring imposed on the local recruitment companies as being the reason for suicide bombers’ access to the country.”

Due to the poor wages they receive in Iraq, these migrant laborers “join the ranks of Al-Qaeda,” where the pay is better, the source said.

For his part, the head of the Anbar Council of Sheikhs, Hamid Al-Shawka, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new local government in the province is responsible for the deteriorating security situation.

“The suicide operations taking place in Anbar, regardless of the nationality of those who carry them out, are due to the incompetence of the local government formed following the recent elections,” he said.