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Differences Among Iraqi Politicians over Basra Autonomous Region

Iraqis protest against the government and lack of basic services, on September 3, 2018 in the southern city of Basra. AFP
Iraqis protest against the government and lack of basic services, on September 3, 2018 in the southern city of Basra. AFP
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Differences Among Iraqi Politicians over Basra Autonomous Region

Iraqis protest against the government and lack of basic services, on September 3, 2018 in the southern city of Basra. AFP
Iraqis protest against the government and lack of basic services, on September 3, 2018 in the southern city of Basra. AFP

The Basra provincial council unanimously approved on Tuesday to transform the southern governorate into an autonomous region.

The Council also invited other governorates to join the new region.

The Iraqi Constitution states that any governorate can become a region with independent powers.

Article 119 of the Constitution states that one or more governorates have the right to organize into a region in two methods: A request by one-third of the council members or a request by one-tenth of the voters in each of the governorates intending to form a region.

Since 2008, Basra residents have been calling for a federation. However, their request has been rejected.

The city had witnessed a series of demonstrations since June 2018 due to poor services and unemployment.

Head of the Basra provincial council Sabah al-Bazoni said Tuesday the decision on the formation of the autonomous region needs the votes of 12 council members. “Today, we have more than 20 signatures,” Bazoni said.

“We support the Constitution and the will of the people in Basra to establish a region,” Galih Khazali, a deputy allied with the Bina Alliance and who represents Basra in Parliament, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He said Basra provides Iraq with 85 percent of its financial revenues, but “gets nothing in return, unlike the Kurdistan Region that offers nothing to the government from its oil revenues.”

However, another Basra deputy form the Reform Alliance, Badr al-Ziadi, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the council’s latest move did not come at the appropriate time.

“Basrans cannot agree on appointing a governor, so how can we manage the whole Basra region?” Ziadi asked.

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Sudan’s Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt

A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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Sudan’s Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt

A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

Sudanese paramilitaries at war with the country’s military for over two years claimed to have seized a strategic area along the border with neighboring Libya and Egypt.

The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement Wednesday that they captured the triangular zone, fortifying their presence along Sudan’ s already volatile border with chaos-stricken Libya, The Associated Press said.

The RSF’s announcement came hours after the military said it had evacuated the area as part of “its defensive arrangements to repel aggression” by the paramilitaries.

On Tuesday the military accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hafter of supporting the RSF’s attack on the area, in a “blatant aggression against Sudan, its land, and its people.”

Hafter’s forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were “a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy.”

The attack on the border area was the latest twist in Sudan’s civil war which erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the Sudanese army and RSF exploded with street battles in the capital, Khartoum that quickly spread across the country.

The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.