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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's national assembly is set
to hold its second meeting Tuesday amid low
expectations that the nation's ethnic groups can
settle their differences in time to form a
government quickly.
By Monday night, the main Kurdish and Shiite Muslim
political tickets had agreed on appointees to most
Cabinet positions but were unable to resolve
disagreements over who would control the nation's
crucial oil ministry. The assembly's scheduled
Saturday meeting was postponed largely because of
disputes about the distribution of ministry
positions.
Kurd and Shiite politicians, who together in the
assembly control the two-thirds vote needed to form
a government, say they'll name the speaker of the
assembly and his deputies on Tuesday, while
continuing to negotiate other matters. They may also
attempt to swear in the newly named president and
his deputies.
But even the most basic step of appointing the
assembly speaker appeared to hit a snag Monday when
the nation's current president, Ghazi al-Yawer -
who'll lose his position in the new government -
publicly refused to accept the speaker's slot, which
had been offered to him, reportedly because as a
Sunni he felt disenfranchised from a process that
has largely shut out the minority Sunni population.
Most Sunnis skipped the vote in the Jan. 30 national
elections because they were either afraid of
insurgent violence or they rejected the process as
being orchestrated by the Americans.
The biggest winner in the election was a Shiite
political ticket, the United Iraqi Alliance, formed
under the guidance of the nation's top Shiite
religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
and stacked with politicians and clergy with strong
ties to theocratic Iran.
The low Sunni turnout put the Kurds in a powerful
position, as the alliance needs their 75 seats in
the 275-member assembly to get the two-thirds vote.
The prime minister slot is set to go to Shiite
politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari and the presidency to
Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani.
The Kurds, who make up some 20 percent of Iraq's
population, seem intent on reaping as much as they
can from their key role before those two men take
office.
After the president and two deputies are seated,
they are to pick a prime minister, according to
Iraq's transitional law. The prime minister, Jaafari,
would then nominate a Cabinet of ministers. After
that point, Kurds would lose leverage as the prime
minister and his Cabinet take over key
decision-making.
Aside from the presidency, the Kurds will get the
foreign minister's job, making them highly visible
to the international community and giving them a
platform to make future demands.
Accounts conflict over who'll get the interior and
defense ministries, which oversee the nation's
police and army. At first, the Shiites looked set to
get the interior ministry and give the defense
ministry post to a Sunni, despite misgivings about
Sunni persecution of Shiites in the past. But Monday
evening, Shiites appeared ready to take both
ministries and allow the finance ministry to go to a
Sunni.
It's oil, though, that appears to spark the most
contention in a nation that has the world's
second-largest reserves. The Kurds have asked for
control of the oil-rich area around Kirkuk in the
north, an issue they agreed to delay until a local
referendum could be held in Kirkuk.
According to some reports, the Kurds at one point
asked for a guarantee of 25 percent of Iraq's oil
revenues.
"The Kurds call for 25 percent of oil revenues to go
to Kurdistan, but to achieve justice and balance,
the ministry must be supervised by" the Shiite
political ticket, said Saad Jawad, a Shiite
official.
Fouad Masoum, with the Kurdish ticket, denied Monday
that the demand had been made.
"We were trying to clarify that when there will be a
budget for the coming government, Kurdistan should
have its share just like the other Iraqi provinces,"
he said. "This matter was misunderstood."
Kamal al Deen, another Kurd official, said Kurdish
negotiators have suggested that the oil ministry
post be given to a Sunni. Doing so would be a boost
to the Sunni community, he said. It also would keep
a crucial post out of Shiite control.
"We couldn't reach an agreement," he said.
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