Kurds, Shiites Push Ahead on Iraq Gov't
Kurds, Shiites Push Ahead on Iraq Gov't
Monday March 14, 2005 10:01 PM
By TODD PITMAN
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Kurdish and Shiite leaders agreed Monday to convene Iraq's new parliament this week even if they fail to iron out the few wrinkles that remain in their deal to form a coalition government.
Shiite officials said they also agreed to reach out to the country's Sunni Arab community to name a new parliament speaker for the 275-member National Assembly that will convene Wednesday.
The clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish coalition agreed last week on a deal to form a coalition government with conservative Islamic Dawa party leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister. In return, Jalal Talabani will become Iraq's first Kurdish president.
``We discussed the blueprint of the agreement reached Thursday, some issues were revised and those revisions are still being discussed,'' alliance member Ali al-Dabagh told The Associated Press. He would not say what the issues being revised are or when the final agreement will be announced.
In northern Iraq, gunmen killed Hussam Hilal Sarsam, a Kurdish cameraman for the Kurdish satellite channel KurdSat, witnesses who saw his corpse transported by Iraqi troops outside the governor's office in Mosul said.
Twenty kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad, a suicide car bomb exploded in Youssifiyah, said police Lt. Adnan Mohammed of the nearby Mahmudiyah hospital said. The blast missed a convoy of sport utility vehicles, hitting a civilian vehicle instead and wounding four civilians.
In the capital, five bodyguards of Sa'ad al-Amily, the Health Ministry's director general, were wounded in a roadside bomb attack, a police captain said on condition of anonymity. The guards were heading to al-Amily's home to pick him up at the time, he said.
Just west of Baghdad, gunmen killed an Iraqi army captain while he was driving his car in Abu Ghraib district, said 1st Lt. Akram al-Zobaei.
The violence came as U.S. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Mosul to visit the new commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner. Myers arrived in Mosul on Monday morning aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane from Cairo, Egypt, where he met Sunday with his Egyptian military counterparts and with U.S. military officers.
Alliance and Kurdish negotiators met at a home inside the heavily fortified Green Zone to iron out what were supposed to be a few remaining details.
Al-Dabagh said that among other things, the two sides discussed naming a parliament speaker.
``We still do not have an agreement on who will be parliament speaker,'' he said. ``We do not want to name the speaker, the Sunnis must participate in this decision.''
``We are meeting with the Sunnis tomorrow so that they nominate people for this post,'' Al-Dabagh said. ``We are running out of time.''
Sunni Arabs, who make up only about 20 percent of the population but were favored under Saddam's regime, largely stayed away from the elections - either to honor a boycott call or because they feared being attacked at the polls by insurgents.
Sunni Arabs are thought to make up the core of the insurgency and including them in a future government or in the political process may be a way of isolating the militants.
The Kurds won 75 seats in the National Assembly during Jan. 30 elections. The alliance won 140 seats and needs Kurdish support to assemble the two-thirds majority to elect a president, who will then give a mandate to the prime minister.
Since 1991, Kurds enjoyed de-facto independence, protected from Saddam's military by a U.S.-enforced no-fly-zone. The Kurdish enclave has since then been off-limits to the Iraqi army.
In Mosul, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed five insurgents in street fighting Sunday, the military said. Three other people, a woman and two children, were killed inadvertently when an American helicopter gunship fired at insurgents, according to Mosul's Al-Jumhuri Teaching Hospital.
The U.S. military originally said that five Iraqis had been injured when a patrolling helicopter returned fire on insurgents in four cars. On Monday, it said two of them were pronounced dead at a Mosul hospital.
Associated Press reporters Qasim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4865106,00.html
Monday March 14, 2005 10:01 PM
By TODD PITMAN
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Kurdish and Shiite leaders agreed Monday to convene Iraq's new parliament this week even if they fail to iron out the few wrinkles that remain in their deal to form a coalition government.
Shiite officials said they also agreed to reach out to the country's Sunni Arab community to name a new parliament speaker for the 275-member National Assembly that will convene Wednesday.
The clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish coalition agreed last week on a deal to form a coalition government with conservative Islamic Dawa party leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister. In return, Jalal Talabani will become Iraq's first Kurdish president.
``We discussed the blueprint of the agreement reached Thursday, some issues were revised and those revisions are still being discussed,'' alliance member Ali al-Dabagh told The Associated Press. He would not say what the issues being revised are or when the final agreement will be announced.
In northern Iraq, gunmen killed Hussam Hilal Sarsam, a Kurdish cameraman for the Kurdish satellite channel KurdSat, witnesses who saw his corpse transported by Iraqi troops outside the governor's office in Mosul said.
Twenty kilometers (12 miles) south of Baghdad, a suicide car bomb exploded in Youssifiyah, said police Lt. Adnan Mohammed of the nearby Mahmudiyah hospital said. The blast missed a convoy of sport utility vehicles, hitting a civilian vehicle instead and wounding four civilians.
In the capital, five bodyguards of Sa'ad al-Amily, the Health Ministry's director general, were wounded in a roadside bomb attack, a police captain said on condition of anonymity. The guards were heading to al-Amily's home to pick him up at the time, he said.
Just west of Baghdad, gunmen killed an Iraqi army captain while he was driving his car in Abu Ghraib district, said 1st Lt. Akram al-Zobaei.
The violence came as U.S. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Mosul to visit the new commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner. Myers arrived in Mosul on Monday morning aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo plane from Cairo, Egypt, where he met Sunday with his Egyptian military counterparts and with U.S. military officers.
Alliance and Kurdish negotiators met at a home inside the heavily fortified Green Zone to iron out what were supposed to be a few remaining details.
Al-Dabagh said that among other things, the two sides discussed naming a parliament speaker.
``We still do not have an agreement on who will be parliament speaker,'' he said. ``We do not want to name the speaker, the Sunnis must participate in this decision.''
``We are meeting with the Sunnis tomorrow so that they nominate people for this post,'' Al-Dabagh said. ``We are running out of time.''
Sunni Arabs, who make up only about 20 percent of the population but were favored under Saddam's regime, largely stayed away from the elections - either to honor a boycott call or because they feared being attacked at the polls by insurgents.
Sunni Arabs are thought to make up the core of the insurgency and including them in a future government or in the political process may be a way of isolating the militants.
The Kurds won 75 seats in the National Assembly during Jan. 30 elections. The alliance won 140 seats and needs Kurdish support to assemble the two-thirds majority to elect a president, who will then give a mandate to the prime minister.
Since 1991, Kurds enjoyed de-facto independence, protected from Saddam's military by a U.S.-enforced no-fly-zone. The Kurdish enclave has since then been off-limits to the Iraqi army.
In Mosul, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed five insurgents in street fighting Sunday, the military said. Three other people, a woman and two children, were killed inadvertently when an American helicopter gunship fired at insurgents, according to Mosul's Al-Jumhuri Teaching Hospital.
The U.S. military originally said that five Iraqis had been injured when a patrolling helicopter returned fire on insurgents in four cars. On Monday, it said two of them were pronounced dead at a Mosul hospital.
Associated Press reporters Qasim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4865106,00.html
posted by JimG at 8:02 PM
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