Reuters, 03 May 2007
BAGHDAD, May 3 (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni bloc said on Thursday it was considering pulling out of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government, saying sectarian violence and corruption was worsening under his administration.
Some members of the Sunni Accordance Front, the largest parliamentary bloc of the Sunni Arab minority, have been urging the group for several months to quit Maliki's government because they believe Sunni concerns are not being addressed.
It has six cabinet ministers and a pullout would not be enough to topple the government, which would still have a majority in the 275-seat parliament.
But it would be a blow to Maliki and raise questions about how representative his administration would remain at a time when he is struggling to push U.S.-backed efforts to reconcile Iraq's warring sects and communities.
"After a year (in government) it's regretful to say that the benefit of this participation has been sour," Saleem al-Jubouri, Front spokesman told a news conference.
"The Iraqi Accordance Front extends its hand to the relevant political blocs and asks them to review a number of controversial issues...Otherwise the Iraqi Accordance Front is studying its options and will not hesitate to take a political stance in the appropriate time," Jubouri said.
Another official, Omar al-Jubouri, said leaving Maliki's coalition of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds was among the options the group was reviewing.
Dominant under Saddam Hussein until majority Shi'ites swept to power in the first post-war elections, Sunnis have long demanded reforms as a condition to remain in government.
Such measures include reforming the constitution, easing a ban on former members of Saddam's Baath party holding office and purging Iraq's security forces of Shi'ite death squads.
Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a member of the bloc, said he had discussed Iraq's "stumbling political process" with U.S. President George W. Bush in a telephone call on Sunday.
Six ministers from Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement quit the government last month in protest over Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops.
(Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim and Mussab Al-Khairalla)
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Citation: "Iraq Sunni bloc says weighing leaving government," Reuters, 03 May 2007.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO334488.htm
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