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Shiite-Kurd rift threatens to delay new
government
20.2.2006
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BAGHDAD - Iraqi
political parties have run into major obstacles in
talks on a new national unity government, officials
said Sunday, raising the possibility of a major
delay that could set back U.S. hopes for a
significant reduction in troop levels this year.
U.S. officials hope a new government that includes
representatives of all Iraq's religious and ethnic
communities can help calm violence by luring the
Sunni Arab minority away from the Sunni-dominated
insurgency so that U.S. and other foreign troops can
begin to head home.
But prospects for a broad-based coalition taking
power soon appeared in doubt after officials from
the Shiite and Kurdish blocs told The Associated
Press that talks between the two groups had revealed
major policy differences.
The political parties have decided to negotiate a
program for the new government before dividing up
Cabinet posts — a step that itself is also bound to
prove contentious and time-consuming.
Leaders from Iraq's Shiite majority oppose a Kurdish
proposal to set up a council to oversee government
operations, the officials said. Shiites also reject
a Kurdish proposal for major government decisions to
be made by consensus among the major parties rather
than a majority vote in the Cabinet.
"If the position of the Shiite alliance is final,
then things will be more complicated and the
formation of the government might face delays,"
Kurdish negotiator Mahmoud Othman said.
Shiites believe the Kurdish proposals would dilute
the power that Shiites feel they earned by winning
the biggest number of seats in Dec. 15 parliamentary
elections. But while Shiite parties control 130 of
the 275 seats, that is not enough to govern without
partners.
"Some parties are trying to undermine efforts to
form a new government," Shiite politician Ammar
Toamah said. "These blocs should not necessarily
participate in government."
He also said the Kurdish coalition, which controls
53 seats, was pushing for a role for a secular group
led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a Shiite
whose party won 25 seats.
Forming a new governing coalition is crucial to the
U.S. strategy for drawing down its forces in Iraq.
Under the new constitution, the new government is
supposed to be complete by mid-May, but some U.S.
officials believe the process could take longer.
AP
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