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A new
Iraqi government may not be in place by the time the
new parliament meets on Wednesday because the two
main political blocs - the Shia and the Kurds -
cannot agree on the programme and make-up of the
country's first elected national administration in
decades.
The two camps were due to publicly formalise a deal
today. But six weeks after January's historic vote,
and with the insurgency still raging in the Sunni
triangle, leaders of the United Iraqi Alliance, the
main Shia group, and the Kurdistan Democratic
Alliance, which came second in the elections, admit
that a final agreement remains elusive.
"We have agreed on the principles of a government of
national unity, but remain divided over details,"
Iraq's interim vice-president, Dr Rowsch Nuri
Schways, a Kurd, said yesterday.
The delay in forming the government has caused
frustration and anxiety among many ordinary Iraqis
while mainly Sunni Arab insurgents stage ever
bloodier attacks in their campaign to derail the
political process.
"The discussions with the Shia alliance about the
government will probably continue into the new
parliament," Dr Schways said.
He spoke after Kurdish party leaders met in the
northern resort town of Salaheddin to consider a
three-page draft agreement, drawn up with their Shia
counterparts in Baghdad, that would act as a
blueprint for a coalition government.
"The Kurds want everything written out and signed,
while the Shia appear to be in favour of keeping it
all a bit more vague," said Dr Mahmoud Osman, a
senior Kurdish politician, who is close to the
talks. "But there doesn't seem to be any major
ideological clash and both sides say the talks have
been conducted in a professional and respectful
atmosphere."
Issues still to be resolved between the two blocs
include the status of the disputed city of Kirkuk
and the portion of national oil revenues to be
allocated to the Kurdish federal region. The future
of the Kurds' peshmerga fighters, which many Iraqi
Arabs want to see disbanded or turned into official
Iraqi forces, is also being discussed.
There is also debate about the need for guarantees
that hardline elements within the Shia alliance
won't try to push through an Islamist agenda, as
well as disagreements over the allocation of the
major cabinet seats. The Kurds want two but the UIA,
the biggest party, say they should have only one.
The Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd,
said a Kurdish delegation would return to Baghdad
"to continue discussions with both the Shia alliance
as well as Sunni Arabs and other parties, such as
[interim prime minister] Ayad Allawi's, to make a
government as inclusive as possible."
He said: "The only people we will not be talking to
are terrorists."
Kurds, who have emerged as kingmakers, expect to see
Jalal Talabani, the veteran leader of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, become president.
In return they will back the prime minsterial
candidate from the Shia list, currently Ibrahim
Jafferi, a conservative Islamist and member of the
Dawa party.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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