|
In
political developments, the country's main Shiite
and Kurdish coalitions were putting the finishing
touches on an agreement they hope to sign on Monday
forming a coalition government. Any U.S. exit
strategy hinges on having a new government organize
Iraq's army and police to take over responsibility
for security.
A senior member of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi
Alliance, Ahmad Chalabi, traveled late Friday to
Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, for
talks with Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader who is
slated to become Iraq's next president.
The Kurds have agreed that conservative Islamic Dawa
party leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari will be Iraq's prime
minister.
"There is discussion and there is an agreement on
the basic principles. But there is not final
agreement on all the details. This visit was on
invitation by Talabani to Chalabi. The atmosphere
was positive," said alliance member Ali al-Faisal.
Kurds and alliance officials said both sides agreed
that Iraq would not become an Islamic state, a
desire also expressed by the country's most powerful
Shiite cleric - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic
Party, said the Kurds would oppose any attempt to
turn Iraq into an Islamic state.
"I think the Shiites well understand that
implementing an Islamic government ... will bring a
lot of problems," Barzani told Dubai's Al-Arabiya
television. "We have an alliance with the Shiites.
We were both oppressed, and we both struggled
against the old regime, but if they insist on having
a religious government we will oppose to them."
An alliance member, Ali al-Dabagh, said there were
no plans to turn Iraq into a religious state or a
secular one.
"We neither want to establish a religious nor a
secular state in Iraq, we want a state that respects
the identity of the Iraqi people and the identities
of others" al-Dabagh said.
The Kurds won 75 seats in the 275-member National
Assembly during Jan. 30 elections. The alliance won
140 seats and needs Kurdish support to assemble the
two-thirds majority to elect a president, who will
then give a mandate to the prime minister.
AP
Top |
® 