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BAGHDAD, March 9 (AFP) - 13h14 - Iraq's Shiites
and Kurds, the top two vote getters in January's
elections, held more talks Wednesday in a bid to
hammer out a statement of principles that would
guide the country's next government.
"Things are moving forward. We will see a principle
of understanding signed by the two blocs within a
couple of days," Adnan Ali, an aide to Shiite prime
ministerial candidate Ibrahim Jaafari, told AFP.
"The principle of understanding will be on the
policies and priorities of the government, what is
to be achieved and the cooperation between the two
sides."
The parceling out of ministerial posts will begin
after that, he said.
The Kurds, whose 77 seats give them the
second-largest share in the new 275-member national
assembly, have insisted on a written pledge from the
Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which swept the
polls with 146 seats.
Senior members of Jaafari's Dawa party had
previously balked over Kurdish insistence on a
binding contract, but the willingess by the UIA now
to sign a pact appeared to mark a thaw or
breakthrough.
On Tuesday, UIA leaders told reporters a common
vision existed among the two blocs as they sought to
muster the required two-thirds parliament majority
necessary to select a presidency council when the
national assembly convenes on March 16.
Kurdish independent Mahmoud Othman, who is a
confidante of Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and
Jalal Talabani, insisted "the Kurds need a written
agreement. The other side might want to delay. They
say the fundamental law is a reference, but they
(the Shiites) don't want to give us something
written." Last week, Barham Saleh, Iraq's current
deputy prime minister, told AFP the Kurds demanded
firm written commitments from the Shiite slate to
respect the country's interim transitional law (TAL).
When the TAL was passed last year, revered Shiite
spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani made
clear his displeasure with the document, which
granted Kurds greater freedom in the north under a
federalist banner and promised to resolve the status
of Kirkuk.
The Shiites had also voiced their distaste for a
clause providing a veto of Iraq's permanent
constitution if a two-thirds majority in three
provinces reject the text in a referendum scheduled
for October.
The clause was seen as an insurance by the Kurds
against being under the thumb of Iraq's 15-million
strong Shiite majority.
AFP
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