BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Iraq’s main Sunni Arab group made an unprecedented
trip north to see the Kurds and agreed Monday for
the first time on broad outlines for a coalition
government - possibly opening a way out of the
political turmoil that has gripped the country since
disputed elections.
A promise of Iraqi army protection for tanker truck
drivers reopened the country’s main refinery - a
last-ditch effort by the Shiite-led government to
avert a fuel crisis that has led to deadly riots and
the oil minister’s resignation.
The violence that followed the Dec. 15 parliamentary
elections was unabated. A suicide car bomber
targeted a busload of police recruits north of
Baghdad, killing seven people, and gunmen in the
capital killed five workers.
As part of the bargaining for a new coalition
government, President Jalal Talabani assured Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari that his fellow Kurds
would not object if the United Iraqi Alliance — the
Shiite religious bloc that won the most votes in the
election — again nominates him for the prime
minister post. |
Joint Iraqi Accordance Front group chief Adnan al-Dulaimi
(L-R), Iraqi Islamic Party chief Tarek al-Hashimi
and Kurdistan region president Massoud Barzani
listen during a news conference in Arbil
(Kurdistan), north of Baghdad January 2, 2006.
Photo: Reuters |
|
NOT ALL ARE HAPPY
But it was the agreement struck Monday by Kurdistan
regional President Massoud Barzani and
representatives of the main Sunni Arab Iraqi
Accordance Front that opened the way for a new
broad-based government. It also drew the ire of
minority parties and secular groups.
“They will be part of a future government,” said
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd who sat in
on the meetings.
Sunni Arabs and secular parties, such as the one
headed by Shiite former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi,
have complained the elections were tainted by fraud
and intimidation. They have demanded a new vote in
some provinces, including Baghdad.
With the agreement, the Accordance Front seems to
have broken a pact to only discuss those complaints
during their meetings with the Kurds. Opposition
groups are waiting for a team of international
monitors — which came to Baghdad on Monday — to
assess the elections and examine the complaints,
which number about 1,500. The U.N. has called the
vote credible.
Accordance Front leaders Adnan al-Dulaimi and Tarek
al-Hashimi discussed the shape of a future
government with Barzani in Irbil, which in recent
days has become a pilgrimage site for southern
politicians. The leader of the Shiite religious
bloc, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, visited last week.
The Accordance Front could be trying to cut out both
al-Mutlaq’s group and Allawi’s to form a government
with the Shiite bloc and the Kurds.
RESULTS EXPECTED SOON
Final results are expected as early as this week,
and the Shiite religious bloc may win about 130
seats — short of the 184 seats needed to avoid a
coalition with other parties to elect a president.
That election is a prerequisite before a government
can be formed.
The Kurds could get about 55 seats, the main Sunni
Arab groups about 50 — the Front getting about 40
and al-Mutlaq’s group 10 — and Allawi secular’s bloc
could receive about 25.
“This act definitely weakens and distract our claims
about the fraudulent results,” al-Mutlaq said of the
Accordance Front’s agreement. “I believe they are
capable of making a deal with the devil himself so
that they can be represented widely in the coming
government.”
A deal by the three groups — the Shiite United Iraqi
Alliance, the Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front and
the Kurdish coalition — could go a long way toward
quickly forming a government that would have
widespread approval among Iraq’s three main ethnic
and sectarian groups, leading to a decrease in
violence from Sunni Arab insurgents.
A year ago, it took nearly three months of
negotiations between the Shiite religious alliance
and a coalition of Kurdish parties to form an
interim government after a Jan. 30, 2005, election
that was boycotted by the Sunni Arabs.
Fuel resumed flowing at Iraq’s largest oil refinery
for the first time in nearly two weeks. The shutdown
forced stations around the country to ration gas,
creating long lines.
Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said he resigned
after the government last week gave him a forced
vacation and replaced him with Deputy Prime Minister
Ahmad Chalabi following criticisms about sharply
increased fuel prices.
Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso and
Patrick Quinn in Baghdad, and Yehia Barzanji in
Kirkuk contributed to this report.
AP
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