Iraq museum row shows turf wars as violence fades

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A standoff over when to reopen Iraq's National Museum, plundered after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, offers a glimpse into the political turf wars that are replacing sectarian violence.

Iraq's Culture Ministry and the Ministry of State for Tourism and Antiquities have each claimed the authority to decide when the museum, closed since looters robbed it of 15,000 artefacts after the invasion, will be back in business.

Tourism and Antiquities officials say the museum in central Baghdad will open to much fanfare next Monday, allowing Iraqis to again take in priceless treasures dating to ancient Mesopotamia.

"We have overcome security problems," said Abdul-Zahra al-Telagani, spokesman for the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry. "The date is set, and the museum will be reopened, God willing."

But Jaber al-Jaberi, deputy minister of culture, said the Culture Ministry outranked the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, a junior agency, and it would not yet permit the reopening.

He said that security was still a problem and, with artefacts simply lying around the museum, the site was not ready. "This is the official and final position," he said.

The feud illustrates some of the challenges facing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government as it seeks to capitalise on a drop in violence and unify a country shattered by war.

Once the domain of a single dictator, Saddam Hussein, Iraq is now wracked by divisions and power struggles as it figures out what kind of democracy it will be and political players fight for a share of the oil-producing country's spoils.

Majority Shi'ite Muslims were long pitted in bloody sectarian fighting against once dominant Sunnis; tensions are rising between Maliki's Shi'ite-led government and its Kurdish partners who run a semi-autonomous region in the north.

Disagreement within the government has for example prevented passage of a new national oil law clarifying how much control the central government and provinces exert over Iraq's oil.

In another area, the execution of several of Saddam's henchmen has been held up for more than a year because officials at the highest level cannot agree to sign off on the death sentences.

Such clashes were exacerbated by U.S. administrators' decision shortly after the invasion to purge tens of thousands of experienced bureaucrats from the civil service because they belonged to Saddam's Baath party.

As ministries were rebuilt from scratch, the new Iraqi government had little institutional knowledge of how to govern.

In addition, a new constitution passed in 2005 was deliberately left unclear on some points to gain wide support on sensitive issues. The vagueness has magnified some disputes within Maliki's fragile coalition of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Hazim al-Nuaimi, a political science professor at a Baghdad university, said decisions were by definition harder to come by in a democracy. "It's a healthy phenomenon ... even if there are negative effects," he said.

There was no indication that the row over the museum was rooted in sectarian and ethnic feuding. It appeared to be just a flexing of muscles, a routine political turf battle.

In recent years, the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry has restored with U.S. and Italian support eight of the museum's 20 halls. Telagani said the Culture Ministry "has a right to its opinion" on whether the museum should reopen, but no more.

Jaberi said he expected the affair would end in an embarrassing climb-down on the supposed opening day.

"They got themselves into this mess," he said.

(Editing by Michael Christie and Missy Ryan)