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BAGHDAD: More than 2,000 Shias marched through
the streets of Baghdad on Friday to protest the
alleged involvement of a Jordanian in Iraq’s single
deadliest suicide bombing, a Feb 28 attack south of
Baghdad that killed 125 people. The protest came
just two days after an influential Shia leader
claimed during Iraq’s first National Assembly
meeting that Jordan allegedly wasn’t doing enough to
prevent terrorists from slipping into Iraq.
In another development, Shia and Kurdish negotiators
reportedly have agreed that National Assembly should
reconvene on March 26 to elect a president and his
council, officials said on Friday. At least 2,000
protesters converged on the Jordanian Embassy after
finishing the Friday prayers at three Shia mosques
around Baghdad. They burned Israeli and Jordanian
flags and shouted slogans against King Abdullah II.
They chanted: "Take your embassy away! We do not
want to see you!" and "There’s no God but God,
Abdullah is the enemy of God!" Iraqi police and
special forces gathered outside the embassy to
prevent demonstrators from reaching the building.
They dispersed peacefully.
It was the largest anti-Jordanian demonstration in a
week. Shias have staged smaller protests in recent
days after the Iraqi government on March 14
condemned celebrations allegedly held by the family
of a Jordanian man, suspected of carrying out a
terrorist attack that killed 125 people in the city
of Hillah. Nearly all the victims were Shia police
and army recruits. Shia and Kurdish negotiators
reportedly have agreed the National Assembly should
reconvene on March 26 to elect a president,
officials said on Friday.
The latest deal came amid reports that not all Kurds
were satisfied with assurances given by the Shia-dominated
United Iraqi alliance over the oil-rich city of
Kirkuk and a Kurdish militia. "There is a
preliminary agreement that the next National
Assembly session is to be held on March 26 to choose
the president, his two vice presidents, and the
speaker," said Ali al-Faisal, an alliance deputy and
member of the team negotiating with the Kurds. That
date matches one given a day earlier by Azad
Jundiyan, a spokesman for Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, who said the government will be
named after Kurds celebrate Norwuz, their six-day
new year holiday that ends March 26.
The latest setback came after Kurdish politicians
reportedly insisted on amending a deal they struck
last week with the alliance. But the deputies failed
to set a date to reconvene, did not elect a speaker
or nominate a president and vice president, all of
which they had hoped to do their first day. Instead,
the session was spent reveling in the seating of
Iraq’s first democratic legislature in a half
century.
The failure to appoint top officials stemmed from
the inability of Shias, Kurds and Sunni Arabs to
agree on a speaker for the new legislature,
disagreement over the oil-rich northern city of
Kirkuk, and renewed haggling over Cabinet posts.
Most of the disagreement has focused on whether to
allow the Kurds’ peshmerga militia to remain in
Kurdistan as part of the Iraqi police and army,
along with setting a timetable for Kurds to assume
control of Kirkuk and permit the speedy return of
nearly 100,000 refugees _ conditions included in an
interim law that serves as a preliminary
constitution.
Kurds want the Shia alliance to strictly follow
Article 58 of the interim law, which sets out the
procedure for extending Kurdish territories to
include Kirkuk.
Agenies
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