Agence France Presse, 18 April 2006
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A new split clouded protracted efforts to form a national unity government in Iraq, this time between the ousted Sunni Arab elite and secularist supporters of former premier Iyad Allawi.
Allawi, whose bloc holds 25 seats in the 275-member parliament, has made a bid for one of the two vice president posts, angering the main Sunni grouping, the National Concord Front.
The Front has 44 seats in parliament and holds one of the vice presidencies in the outgoing government.
"Allawi is our candidate for the vice president and we will also announce a candidate for the deputy prime minister's post once the prime minister is fixed by the Shiite alliance," Rassim al-Awadi, a senior leader with Allawi's group told AFP.
He said the Sunnis had reservations about Allawi's candidacy, because "they say the two vice presidencies are meant for Shiite and Sunni candidates".
"We do not agree with such sectarian sharing. Nothing in the constitution says that the posts should be shared like this. We are Iraq, not Lebanon," Awadi said.
Zhafer al-Ani, spokesman of the National Concord Front confirmed the group had reservations about the nomination of Allawi, a pro-Western secular Shiite.
"There is another problem. Allawi wants the post of vice president which is ours," Ani said.
The Sunnis are also facing stiff opposition from the Shiite alliance to their candidacy for the post of parliament speaker.
Tareq al-Hashemi, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party which is a key member of the Front, has been nominated for the post, but the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance has opposed it.
"The Shiite opposition is a reaction to our opposition to Jaafari," Ani charged.
Sunni Arabs and Kurds alike have strongly opposed the Shiite alliance's nomination of incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari to head a new government, saying he has failed to curb raging sectarian violence.
But Ani insisted his group would not act as a "hurdle in the formation of a national unity government", adding "there are still many differences within the groups and I think we need at least a month to form the government."
Talks on forming the new government have already lasted some four months since December elections to the first full-term parliament since the US-led invasion of 2003.
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Citation: "New rift in Iraq unity government talks," Agence France Presse, 18 April 2006.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060418/wl_mideast_afp/iraqpolitics
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