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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's new parliament met
for the first time on Wednesday more than six weeks
after it was elected in historic polls, but the
country is still without a government as rival blocs
bicker over a coalition deal.
Several streets in Baghdad were closed and traffic
restricted to try to thwart insurgent attacks, but
guerrillas fired a rocket or mortar barrage into the
fortified Green Zone compound before the meeting
began.
In the Convention Centre where the meeting is taking
place, windows rattled and lights flickered as
sirens wailed outside.
The Shi'ite Islamist alliance that won 140 seats in
the 275-member National Assembly and the Kurdish
coalition that came second with 75 seats are
deadlocked in negotiations over a government that
have dragged on for weeks.
There is tentative agreement that Ibrahim Jaafari of
the Shi'ite Dawa party will be prime minister and
Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be president,
with a Sunni Arab candidate probably being offered
the job of parliament speaker.
But talks have stalled over Kurdish demands to
expand their northern autonomous zone to include the
strategic oil city of Kirkuk and the fate of the
Kurdish peshmerga militias, which Shi'ites want to
be absorbed in Iraq's official security forces. The
Kurds also want guarantees Iraq will remain secular.
"ARGUMENTS OF THE DEAF"
Politicians had hoped that an agreement would have
been reached by Wednesday's parliament meeting. Some
officials said a deal could be struck within the
next few days.
"We expect to sign a declaration in the next few
days on general principles that include dealing with
the city of Kirkuk according to the interim
constitution," said Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum, a member
of the majority Shi'ite bloc.
But another Shi'ite official was less optimistic,
describing recent political bargaining as "arguments
of the deaf".
Current Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose bloc came
third in the polls, will remain caretaker leader
until a deal is agreed.
According to Iraq's interim constitution, the
National Assembly must agree on a president and two
vice presidents by a two-thirds majority. These
officials will then appoint a prime minister. This
means there must be agreement between two-thirds of
the 275 assembly members on the shape of the
government.
The delay in forming a government has angered many
Iraqis, after more than eight million people defied
suicide bombers and mortar attacks to vote in the
Jan. 30 elections.
Some Iraqis say the political deadlock is playing
into the hands of insurgents determined to wreck the
political process.
On Wednesday, a suicide car bomb exploded at an
Iraqi army checkpoint in the town of Baquba,
northeast of Baghdad, killing three Iraqi soldiers
and wounding eight people, police said.
Reuters
Iraq
MPs sworn in amid deadlock
16.3.2005
Iraq's
new interim parliament has ended its first session
without taking a vote on a new government after the
parties failed to agree on its make-up.
Talks between the Shia and Kurd parties which won
the 30 January poll, the first free election in 50
years, are bogged down over Kurdish issues.
The session ended after the 275 deputies were sworn
in.
A series of mortar attacks near the venue in
Baghdad's fortified Green Zone failed to disrupt
proceedings.
Negotiators say the parties in the Transitional
National Assembly hope to reach an agreement by the
end of the month.
A car bomb earlier on Wednesday killed three Iraqi
soldiers and wounded seven other people at an army
checkpoint in the town of Baquba, 60km (35 miles)
north-east of Baghdad.
www.bbc.co.uk
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