Written question asked by Nick Harvey (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 23 March 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 March 2006. It was answered by Lord Reid of Cardowan (Labour) on Thursday, 30 March 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what strategy is in place in Iraq to achieve the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration on non-state militia (a) nationally and (b) in multi-national sector (south-east).

Answer: With our coalition partners we continue to press the Iraqi authorities, both at a national and provincial level, to recognise and take action on the issue of militias. The new Iraqi constitution continues the broad policy reflected in the Coalition Provisional Authority Order 91 which set out to integrate individuals, rather than formed militia units, into the Iraqi Security Forces.Once a new Government is in place, we will strongly encourage it to enact further legislation to control and, ultimately, disband these groups. The development of professional and politically neutral Iraqi Security Forces will be key for the Iraqi Government to have a monopoly on the use of force.The strategy in multi-national division (south-east) is in line with the national approach and at the local level we are engaged with the provincial chiefs of police in order to make progress on the militia issues.

Secondary information