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Iraqi Shiite leaders try to split Kurds,
Sunnis to keep president in office
13.4.2006
BY LOUISE ROUG
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Iraq stalemate lingers
Shiite leaders try to split Kurds, Sunnis to keep
president in office
BAGHDAD -- As an ongoing political deadlock
continues over the formation of a new government,
Shiite Muslim leaders have launched a new offensive
in favor of embattled Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari
by trying to drive a wedge between Kurds and Sunni
Arabs who have opposed al-Jaafari winning a full
term in office.
Al-Jaafari and his supporters have suggested that
Iraq's presidency could be awarded to a Sunni rather
than a Kurd, sowing a potential rift between the two
groups who, until now, have joined to fight al-Jaafari.
In Iraq's interim government, the Shiites had
received the prime minister post, Kurds the
presidency and a Sunni has served as speaker of the
parliament.
As the political stalemate continued, at least 32
Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday
amid the ongoing insurgency and sectarian violence.
North of Baquba, a car bomb exploded near a Shiite
mosque as people were leaving after evening prayers,
killing at least 26 people and injuring 70 others,
police said.
The U.S. troops killed Wednesday brought the total
number of Americans killed this month to 34, more
than the total during all of March, according to a
count by the Associated Press. |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani
Photo: Reuters
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari |
The Bush administration and others have urged that a
new government be formed quickly to help stabilize
the nation four months after the Iraqi parliamentary
election.
On Wednesday, acting parliament speaker Adnan
Pachachi, a Sunni who is a former Iraqi foreign
minister, said he has called on the parliament to
convene Monday "to preserve the credibility of the
political process."
"The Iraqi people want to see the new government as
soon as possible," said Pachachi. Setting a date
"will urge the officials and the politicians to
double their efforts."
In the capital, political tirades burst forth
Tuesday. Incensed by what he called anti-Shiite
remarks from the Egyptian president, Jaafari said
Tuesday that Iraq would boycott a conference of
Middle Eastern foreign ministers in Cairo on
Wednesday.
Jaafari said at a news conference that the Egyptian
president, Hosni Mubarak, had defamed Iraq and its
majority Shiite population by saying in a television
interview last Saturday that Iraqi Shiites are more
loyal to Iran than to Iraq.
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