By Waleed Ibrahim
Reuters, 02 July 2007
BAGHDAD - Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc that is boycotting cabinet meetings in protest at being sidelined in the unity government may adopt new drastic tactics to win fairer treatment, Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi said on Monday.
Hashemi, a key member of the Sunni Accordance Front, told Reuters in an interview that Iraq no longer had a government of national unity comprised of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
"We haven't achieved anything after a year of participating in the government. We are depressed and sidelined, especially in terms of decision-making," said Hashemi, one of two vice presidents in Iraq. The other is Shi'ite.
Asked what the Accordance Front would do next, Hashemi said:
"I will not talk about this matter because the time for talking has ended. I will let our actions do the talking for us," he said.
"We started by suspending our participation in cabinet and if there is no real response from our partners in this government over our suggestions and reservations, we as the Accordance Front will take (other) measures."
His words underscored deep frustration at a political process that has failed to reconcile majority Shi'ites with minority Sunni Arabs.
Besides holding six cabinet posts in the 35-member administration, the Accordance Front has 44 seats in the 275-member parliament.
It does not have the numbers to bring down the government, but its absence from cabinet and parliament makes it increasingly hard for Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to portray his administration as a unity government.
The Front suspended its participation in cabinet last week, mainly over legal steps being taken against the culture minister, one of its six members in the Shi'ite-led government.
That move followed a boycott of parliament a week earlier in response to the ousting of the Sunni speaker.
REDUCING SECTARIAN VIOLENCE
Washington has been urging Iraq for months to pass major laws aimed at reducing sectarian violence and drawing Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam Hussein more firmly into the political arena. No drafts have reached parliament.
The laws deal with sharing revenues from Iraq's huge oil reserves more equitably -- most proven reserves are located in the Shi'ite south or the Kurdish north -- as well as amending a ban on former members of Saddam's Baath party serving in the government and military.
Hashemi insisted that Mahmoud Mashhadani would return as speaker of parliament in the near future, despite a parliament vote last month that removed him following what some officials described as his "rude" behaviour to other legislators.
Hashemi did not elaborate, but added there were more important things for parliament to do than argue over who should be sitting in the speaker's chair.
Maliki insists his government is working hard toward national reconciliation. He has also urged the Accordance Front to cancel its decision to boycott cabinet meetings.
Hasan al-Senaid, a senior Shi'ite politician close to Maliki, accused the Sunnis over the weekend of politicising the legal steps against Culture Minister Asaad Kamal Hashemi.
The government's spokesman has said an arrest warrant had been issued for the minister over a murder investigation.
The minister is in hiding, but Sunni politicians have denied he committed any wrongdoing. Police and court officials have not been able to confirm such a warrant has been issued.
Vice President Hashemi also urged the United States not to withdraw American troops prematurely from Iraq.
President George W. Bush is under mounting pressure from opposition Democrats and senior figures in his own Republican Party to show his war strategy is working.
"If the Americans respond to U.S. public opinion without considering the reality in Iraq, it will create a chaotic security situation," the vice president said.
"Any withdrawal must be within an agreed timetable after the Iraqi security forces are capable of filling the vacuum."
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Citation: Waleed Ibrahim. "Iraq Sunni bloc hints at more drastic steps," Reuters, 02 July 2007.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02154907.htm
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