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Talabani predicts a new government could
be formed within weeks
7.1.2006
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BAGHDAD (AP) -
Iraq's president predicted Saturday that a new
government could be formed within weeks and said the
country's main political groups had agreed in
principle on a coalition of national unity.
He made the comments after meeting with visiting
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who said
Iraqis remained optimistic about their future
despite suffering through a particularly violent
week that saw nearly 200 people killed in two days,
including 11 U.S. troops.
The violence continued Saturday with a suicide car
bomber blowing himself up next to an Interior
Ministry patrol, killing one officer and wounding 11
people - including five civilians, Capt. Mohammed
Jassim Jabr said.
A few hours later, gunmen fired on a civilian car in
a northwestern Baghdad neighbourhood, killing a
woman and wounding two men, police Leut. Mohammed
Khayoun said.
Meeting with Straw in Baghdad, Talabani said Shiite,
Sunni Arab and Kurdish political groups had agreed
in principle on a national unity government that
could be formed within a few weeks. Western
diplomats in Baghdad have speculated that a
government could be in place by the second half of
February.
"In principle we are agreed to have a national unity
government. Everyone is expecting to have it as soon
as possible, but you know the devil is in the
details," Talabani said. |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani (L) British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw (R)
Photo: AP |
He said it should be easier to form a new government
than it was after the Jan. 30 elections, when it
took nearly three months.
"We are expecting within weeks, God willing, we will
be able to form the government," Talabani said.
Talabani and other Kurdish leaders met over the New
Year's holiday with Sunni Arab leaders from the
Iraqi Accordance Front and with the head of the
governing Shiite United Iraqi Alliance. The meetings
in northern Irbil helped shape agreement on the
general outlines of a broad-based coalition
government.
"No doubt this government cannot be formed without
the collective effort of the basic political
entities," Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a
member of the Shiite Alliance, said.
He added that the Shiite "alliance and the coalition
of Kurdistan and the other tickets, fortunately, are
keen to make a national unity government. That
common feeling will make the process easier."
Al-Jaafari said increased participation of Sunni
Arabs in the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections would
speed up the process after "we lost three months" in
January.
"The forming of a national unity government will be
very much easier," he said after meeting Straw.
Earlier Straw said the situation in Iraq remained
violent but its politicians were optimistic.
"I was trying to avoid any kind of pretence about
the situation here in Iraq," Straw told British
Broadcasting Corp. radio. "It is very difficult.
People are being killed by terrorism."
In Baghdad's Sadr City slum and in its northern
Kazimiyah suburb, thousands of angry Shiites rallied
after Friday prayers to condemn twin suicide attacks
Thursday that killed at least 136 people, including
the U.S. troops.
On Wednesday, 53 people died in attacks, including
32 killed by a suicide bomber at a Shiite funeral.
The protesters also denounced what they claimed was
American backing for Sunni Arab politicians who have
supported insurgent groups and are protesting that
last month's elections were tainted by fraud.
Final results from the elections could be released
next week and be fully certified by the end of the
month after any appeals are heard.
They are expected to show the religious Shiite
United Iraqi Alliance with a strong lead. The
Shiites will, however, need to form a coalition
government with support from Kurdish and Sunni Arab
political groups.
The rallies and threats by the Iraq's largest Shiite
religious party to react with force if the militant
attacks continue renewed fears that paramilitary
militias would take to the streets and carry out
reprisals.
Sunni Arabs have complained that often brutal
methods used by Interior Ministry forces already
have pushed Iraq to the brink of sectarian war.
"The attacks over the last few days reinforced the
importance of building national unity in Iraq and
stopping those who would try to foment sectarian
strife," said Robert Ford, the U.S. Embassy's
political councillor.
The demonstrations were organized by the Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq - one of
two religious parties that makes up the governing
Alliance.
SCIRI and Badr Brigade Secretary General Hadi al-Amiri
have blamed hardline Sunni groups of inciting the
violence and said the Defence and Interior
ministries - both dominated by Shiites - were being
restrained by the U.S.-led coalition and had to be
unleashed. The Badr Brigade is SCIRI's military
wing.
Moderate Shiite leaders, including Iraq's most
prominent cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,
called for cooperation.
AP
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