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BAGHDAD, May 9 (AFP) - 11h56 - The Iraqi cabinet
was sworn in for the second time in a week Monday
after Kurdish leaders insisted a reference to
federalism that had been removed from the original
text be reinserted.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari was the first to take
the oath again, his hand on the Koran.
Science and Technology Minister Bassema Yusef Butrus,
the only Christian in the 36-member cabinet, pledged
allegiance to the Iraqi state with her hand on a
bible.
"I swear before God the Almighty to preserve Iraq's
independence, the interest of its people, its
sovereignty, its waters and its natural resources as
well as its democratic and federal system, and
implement the law earnestly and fairly," the cabinet
members said.
The reference to the democratic and federal nature
of the Iraqi state was dropped from the oath text
read by the partial cabinet on May 3, sparking the
ire of Kurdish leaders.
Massoud Barzani, the charismatic leader of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party, had warned on Friday
that the removal of these key words from the text
could threaten the Kurdish-Shiite alliance in the
Iraqi executive.
The winning Shiite alliance headed by Jaafari holds
more than half of the seats in parliament but needs
the support of the 77 Kurdish MP's to secure the
two-thirds majority required for important
decisions.
The principle of federalism is of paramount
importance to the Kurds, who already enjoy a high
level of autonomy in northern Iraq and want to see
it enshrined in the permanent constitution, which is
to be drafted this year.
AFP
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