Political stalemate threatens chaos in Iraq
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2006-daily/11-03-2006/world/w21.htm
BAGHDAD: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Friday summoned parliament
to meet on March 19 for its first session since December elections
amid dire warnings the protracted stalemate in forming a new governing
coalition was fanning sectarian unrest. Religious leaders, from both
the Sunni minority and the Shia majority, appealed for a quick
agreement on setting up the next government, warning in their Friday
prayer sermons that the situation was getting out of hand.
The head of the Kurdish autonomous region, Massud Barzani, invited top
politicians to join him for intensive talks in northern Iraq after US
ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad suggested meeting "possibly away from
Baghdad" might help break the deadlock. Iraq’s political parties,
which are deeply divided along sectarian and ethnic lines, have failed
to agree on a power-sharing formula for a national unity government
despite nearly three months of talks since the elections.
On Thursday, party leaders finally agreed on March 19 for the first
session of parliament after the Shias, who form much the largest bloc
in parliament, refused to accept any earlier date. "Political
negotiations have bogged down and there is no agreement on forming a
government, or on who will lead it," Barzani said in a statement.
"Talks in Baghdad have reached what can only be described as a crisis
point and we need a new start to get everyone talking again around one
table."
Any further delay in the coalition talks "could lead to a surge in
violence and loss of trust by the Iraqi people in their elected
representatives," the Kurdish leader warned.
Members of the dominant Shia United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) have
re-selected outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari as their candidate
to head the cabinet, but both the Kurds and Sunni Arabs have rejected
their choice.
The minority parties believe Jaafari, who has led the interim
government since April last year, has done too little to stem
sectarian violence which has resulted in the deaths of more than 500
Iraqis since a Shia shrine was bombed on February 22. Sunni and Shia
religious leaders alike appealed to the politicians to step back from
the brink.
An aide of Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani used his
prayer sermon in the pilgrimage city of Karbala to urge a swift deal
on a new coalition.
"Those who want civil war will try again to push the country over the
abyss into chaos," Sheikh Abdel Mehdi al-Karbalai told worshippers.
Sunni cleric Sheikh Mahmud Issawi said the country was already in
chaos.
"We must be loyal to Islam, not to political interests. I call on all
parties to quickly form a government to allow the country to escape
chaos," he told the faithful in Baghdad’s Abdel Kader Kailani mosque.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2006-daily/11-03-2006/world/w21.htm
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