WORLD> Middle East
|
WORLD> Middle East
|
|
Shiite groups form new alliance excluding Iraqi PM
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-25 13:24 But the unrelenting explosions -- including two suicide truck bombings against the foreign and finance ministries that killed scores last week -- have weakened his position at a crucial time. He stayed out of the new alliance because leaders refused to guarantee him the prime minister's spot, officials said. Rumored possibilities for the job include new alliance members ex-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, current Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and even Former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a one-time Pentagon favorite. The realignment does not immediately threaten al-Maliki's position as prime minister, but points to stormy politics in the election campaign and beyond, as US troops begin scaling back their presence. Supreme Council lawmaker Reda Jawad Taqi said a last-ditch meeting was held Sunday to try to bring al-Maliki into the fold but it failed to overcome the differences. One of al-Maliki's advisers, Hassan al-Sineid, said in a televised response that the prime minister and the leaders of the new alliance differed over "the mechanism of participation in the alliance and the need to open this alliance to include a broad range of political powers." The prime minister instead is working to form an alternate coalition. He is reaching out to a prominent Sunni sheik in Anbar province, whose followers include fighters who joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq. Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha said his representatives met with al-Maliki's advisers on Sunday to discuss forming "a national and nonsectarian alliance." He praised al-Maliki for cracking down on Shiite militias and supporting the anti-al-Qaida movement that has spread nationwide and is considered a key factor in a sharp decline in overall violence over the past two years. Despite Monday's announcement, the new Shiite alliance was careful to leave the door open for the Dawa Party to join later. Abdul-Mahdi, a top SIIC member, was among those reaching out to Dawa, saying it was important to present a strong united front that can address the overwhelming challenges facing the country. The coalition will replace the United Iraqi Alliance, which won control of parliament in the last parliamentary elections in December 2005 but began to unravel later with the withdrawal of two major factions and the bitter rivalry between al-Maliki and the Supreme Council. The list includes several Sunnis, comprising a smaller Awakening Council faction from the western Anbar province that won several seats in provincial elections earlier this year. Absent from the press conference was the Supreme Council's leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who suffers from lung cancer and was hospitalized this weekend in Iran after officials said his health deteriorated. Al-Sadr also is believed to be in Iran.
|
