In these villages, Sunnis and Shiites agree

A Shiite tribal sheik from Little Barwana, right, kisses his Sunni counterpart from Big Barwana on the cheek after a peace deal was signed Thursday between the two villages. The deal ended two years of bloodshed between the two villages and was brokered by troops of 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.


In these villages, Sunnis and Shiites agree
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, January 27, 2008

LITTLE BARWANA, Iraq — After years of fighting, two villages in Diyala province — one Shiite, the other Sunni — have agreed to a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

The agreement took place Thursday between about 50 village elders from the Shiite village of Little Barwana and the Sunni village of Big Barwana. Although small in scope, the deal represents a significant step toward reconciling Iraq’s majority Shiites and minority Sunnis in Diyala province, according to U.S. military officers.

The two Muslim sects have been locked in a retaliatory cycle of killings across Iraq since al-Qaida insurgents bombed an important Shiite mosque in the city of Samarra in 2006. Diyala province has seen some of the worst of the violence, which has only begun to subside in the last year, after President Bush ordered another 30,000 U.S. troops into the country.

“I think this will be a great example for the rest of Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Rod Coffey, commander of 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, who set the framework for the deal.

The two villages, which number about 1,000 residents each, had lived together for decades in peace, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. But after the 2003 U.S. invasion, Ansar al-Sunna — a Sunni insurgent group affiliated with al-Qaida — gained a foothold in Big Barwana. Inhabitants of Little Barwana turned to Jaish al-Mahdi, a Shiite extremist group, for protection.


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