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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament convenes
on Sunday to formally approve six new government
posts, putting a full cabinet in place and ending
months of wrangling that hampered efforts to tackle
an escalating insurgency.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced on Saturday
that a deal had been reached on filling the vacant
cabinet posts -- the ministers of defence, oil,
human rights, industry and electricity and an
additional deputy prime minister.
Jaafari declined to name his choices ahead of the
parliament meeting, but leading sources in
parliament's two most powerful blocs -- the Shi'ite
Islamist-led United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurds --
told Reuters the key defence ministry would be given
to Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a member of an influential
Sunni Arab tribe.
The oil minister will be Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a
Shi'ite, the sources said. Several other vacant
posts will be given to Sunni Arabs, despite the fact
that they have minimal influence in parliament with
only 17 of the assembly's 275 seats.
The Sunni Arab minority dominated Iraq during Saddam
Hussein's rule but was sidelined after the Jan. 30
elections, with most Sunni Arabs staying away from
the polls due to calls for a boycott and fears of
insurgent violence.
Iraq's Shi'ite majority and Kurds voted in large
numbers, eager to win greater political clout after
decades of oppression by Saddam, and became the new
dominant players in Iraq.
But Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders need to include
Sunni Arabs in the political process to undermine
support for the insurgency, which is mainly being
fought by Sunni guerrillas, and to ensure that Sunni
Arabs do not veto the country's new constitution in
a referendum later this year.
DEADLOCK BROKEN
Bickering among leading political blocs over the
shape of the new government delayed the formation of
a cabinet for months, infuriating many Iraqis who
voted in the elections despite threats and suicide
bomb attacks on polling stations.
A partial cabinet was sworn in last Tuesday but
several posts remained vacant, largely because of
disagreements over which Sunni Arab candidates
should get ministries earmarked for Sunnis. Several
candidates for defence minister were rejected by
Shi'ites because of past ties to Saddam.
Political leaders hope that giving the defence
ministry to a Sunni Arab with tribal ties to
rebellious western Iraq will help them crack down on
insurgents and win over Sunni Arabs.
Guerrillas have unleashed a surge in violence over
the past 10 days, killing more than 300 people in a
series of attacks that defied government predictions
the insurgency was crumbling.
Gunmen assassinated senior transport ministry
official Zobaa Yassin as he drove to work on Sunday,
police said.
On Saturday, al Qaeda's network in Iraq hit a
foreign security convoy with a car bomb in the heart
of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people including two
Americans. Dozens were wounded, including several
pupils at a nearby girls' school.
The previous day, a suicide car bomb at a vegetable
market in Suwayra, south of Baghdad, killed 31
people, and another suicide bomber blew up his
vehicle beside a police minibus in Saddam's hometown
of Tikrit, killing at least nine policemen.
Insurgents are also pressing foreign troops to leave
by seizing foreign hostages. On Friday, Al Jazeera
aired a new video showing Australian captive Douglas
Wood, 63, apparently pleading for his life as two
guerrillas pointed rifles at him.
Wood appeared distraught and his head had been
shaved. Al Jazeera said his captors demanded that
Australia begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq
within 72 hours.
Australia insists it will not give in to hostage
takers.
Reuters
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