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Iraq's president calls for premier to
resign
3.10.2005
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KIRKUK,
Kurdistan-Iraq (AP) - Iraq's Kurdish president
called on the country's Shiite prime minister to
step down, the spokesman for the president's party
said Sunday, escalating a political split between
the two factions that make up the government.
President Jalal Talabani has accused the Shiite-led
United Iraqi Alliance, which holds the majority in
parliament, of monopolizing power in the government
and refusing to move ahead on a key issue for Kurds,
the resettlement of Kurds in the northern city of
Kirkuk. |
President : Jalal Talabani |
"The time has come for the United Iraqi Alliance and
the Kurdistan coalition to study Prime Minister
Ibrahim al-Jaafari's stepping aside from his post,"
said Azad Jundiyani, a spokesman for Talabani's
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "This is for the
benefit of the political process."
Jundiyani would not say whether the Kurds would
withdraw from the government if the Shiite alliance
does not back them in removing al-Jaafari. Talabani
has made indirect threats to withdraw from the
coalition if Kurdish demands are not met.
The two blocs have been the bedrock of the temporary
government. Its collapse would add a new layer of
political instability and underline how struggles
for power are undermining efforts to get Iraq's
fractious communities to work together in a new
political system.
Iraq is holding an Oct. 15 referendum on a new
constitution that leaders of Iraq's Sunni Arab
minority reject, while it is backed by the Shiites
and Kurds.
Jawad al-Maliki, a Shiite legislator and a leader in
al-Jaafari's Dawaa party, denounced the call.
"They should have asked us for that in a legal way,
and then we will have discussions," he said. "It is
not beneficial for Iraq, especially during this
period of time because the country is heading to a
referendum and elections."
AP
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