Jaafari Forms New Govt

Arab News



BAGHDAD, 28 April 2005 — Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim Jaafari announced yesterday he had formed a Cabinet. The proposed Cabinet “will be submitted to the presidential council, which in turn will submit it to Parliament” for approval, Jaafari told a news briefing.

The announcement came hours after an Iraqi woman parliamentarian was shot and killed by militants who stormed into her house in an eastern Baghdad neighborhood, underscoring fears that the political impasse has emboldened insurgents to step up deadly attacks in recent weeks, after a lull following the Jan. 30 elections.

The Cabinet list will be presented in the 275-member National Assembly today, Jaafari said.

Jaafari did not release any of the names on the list, but said it included representatives of all the country’s major groups, including Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis.

“The Iraqis will find that this government has religious, ethnic, political, and geographic variety, in addition to the participation of women,” Jaafari told reporters on the steps of his office. “Now that the process has started, we will spare no effort to bring back a smile to children’s faces.”

President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents must sign off on the proposal before the assembly votes on the new government. Talabani already has indicated he would not exercise his veto, and Parliament Speaker Hajim Al-Hassani told the assembly earlier in the day that they would be asked to vote today.

Jaafari said he has proposed a 36-member Cabinet — including three deputy premiers who lawmakers said would come from each of Iraq’s main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions. A fourth deputy could also be added, Jaafari said, offering no explanation.

The Cabinet would have 17 Shiite ministers, eight Kurds, six Sunnis and one Christian, fulfilling promises by leaders of the Shiite majority to share power among ethnic and religious groups, lawmakers from Jaafari’s Iraqi United Alliance said. They include seven women, Jaafari said.

A formal handover between outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and his successor will take place in the coming days, Jaafari said.

Shiite lawmakers said Allawi’s Iraqi List party, which has 40 seats in the National Assembly, was not included in the new Cabinet. They said they had given up trying to balance Allawi’s demands with those of Sunni factions that could offer help in beginning talks with Sunni militants, who are believed to be the backbone of the insurgency.

Many Shiites have long resented the secular Allawi, accusing his outgoing administration of including former Baathists in the government and security forces.

Among the other points of contention in recent days was the winning Shiite alliance’s opposition to some Sunni candidates who they believe were former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, which brutally repressed the majority Shiites and Kurds.

Infighting within Jaafari’s Shiite-dominate United Iraqi Alliance — the largest bloc in Parliament — over who would be oil minister also stalled progress, said Sami Al-Askari, a Shiite lawmaker.

Shiites make up 60 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people. The Kurds make up 20 percent, and the Sunnis, who largely stayed away from the elections either in boycott of the vote or for fear of attacks, are roughly 15 percent to 20 percent.

After a postelection lull in violence, insurgents have staged a series of well-coordinated attacks that have inflicted heavy casualties in recent weeks.

Lamia Abed Khadouri Al-Sakri, who was elected to the National Assembly on the ticket of Allawi’s party, was shot and killed by militants in her house in Baghdad’s Hay Aour neighborhood, police Capt. Ali al-Obeidi said.