March 4, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
said on Sunday he would reshuffle his 39-member
multiparty cabinet of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds
within two weeks.
Asked at a media conference when a reshuffle could
be expected, he replied: "Either this week or next
week."
In the shakeup, Maliki is expected to streamline his
cabinet and replace underperforming ministers.
There has been increasing talk in Iraqi political
circles that Maliki may review the position of six
ministers representing radical anti-American Shiite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political bloc. |
Iraqi Prime minister Jawad Nuri al-Maliki
Photo:AP |
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The group, which has 32 MPs in Iraq's 275-member
parliament, suspended participation in the political
process following Maliki's November 30 meeting with
US President George W. Bush, but ended its boycott
in late January.
US and Iraqi forces have targeted Sadr's militia --
previously regarded as untouchable -- in a massive
security sweep through Baghdad in the past two
weeks, and the whereabouts of the radical cleric is
unknown.
Iraqi and US officials say the Shiite firebrand has
decamped to Iran, a claim denied by both Tehran and
Sadr's movement.
Maliki also pitched next weekend's security
conference in Baghdad involving Iraq's neighbours
and world powers as an opportunity to forge
international "agreement and harmony."
"The conference will help heal Iraq and be a base
for regional dialogue," he said. "Iraq will connect
with its neighbours and the world community. The
meeting will end in international agreement and
harmony."
The March 10 meeting will involve envoys from Iran,
Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey as
well as Egypt, Bahrain, the Arab League and the
Organisation of the Islamic Conference plus the five
UN Security Council powers -- Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States.
It could also set the stage for rare high-level
talks between the US and its arch-foes Syria and
Iran.
Maliki called for national unity and warned that the
security operation -- codenamed Operation "Fardh al-Qanoon"
(Imposing the Law) -- would be extended to "every
inch" of Iraq.
"The law must be the master. Everyone will be
affected, regardless of their sect."
The security plan, involving some 90,000 Iraqi and
US troops, was aimed, Maliki said, at "those who
rebelled and didn't heed the call for dialogue and
reconciliation."
It was hoped that through the plan people who have
fled their homes due to the sectarian violence which
has claimed the lives of thousands of people in the
past year would be able to return.
AFP
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