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RFE/RL Iraq
analyst Kathleen Ridolfo says the Kurds accuse al-Ja'fari
of trying to concentrate power in his hands, at
their expense. They also blame him for inaction on
the question of the Kurdish oil-rich northern city
of Kirkuk, to which the Kurds lay claim.
"For the Kurds, the reasons [for their opposition]
have to do with what they say is al-Ja'fari's
monopolization of power in the transitional
government," she says. "They say that he tried to
hold on to power and to take some of the powers away
from the presidency, specifically. They also are
opposed to al-Ja'fari's stalling on the issue of
Kirkuk, so they feel that he hasn't moved fast
enough, that he's monopolizing power and they really
want to see the future Iraqi government as a
national-unity government. And they believe they
can't do this with al-J'afari in office."
The Sunnis have similar complaints, although their
opposition to al-Ja'fari is even stronger. They
believe he has done little to rein in Shi'ite
Interior Ministry forces implicated in the torture
and killing of Sunnis. And they are increasingly
concerned about al-Ja'fari's close contacts with
radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his
militia.
"For the Sunnis, it's somewhat similar," Ridolfo
says. "But mainly their issue has to do with the
ministries, particularly the Interior Ministry,
because Interior Ministry forces have of course been
accused of arresting and killing Sunni Arabs for a
number of months."
The pressure on al-Ja'fari to step aside is intense.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British
Foreign Minister Jack Straw paid a joint visit to
Baghdad at the beginning of April to emphasize their
growing impatience with the lack of progress on
forming a government.
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