Bid to end Iraq stalemate as politician killed

GUNMEN assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament yesterday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

Iraq’s prime minister-designate presented his proposal for a cabinet to the presidential council yesterday, drawing in the country’s main ethnic and religious groups, in a step toward ending a crippling political stalemate.

The list will be presented in the 275-member National Assembly today, Ibrahim al-Jaafari said.

Mr Al-Jaafari did not release any of the names on the list, but said it included representatives of all the country’s major groups, including Shiites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs.

President Jalal Talabani’s three-member council must sign off on the proposal before the assembly votes on the new government.

Bickering over the different ministerial candidates continued until the last minute yesterday, worrying Iraqis, many of whom feel months of wrangling over the new government has emboldened insurgents to step up deadly attacks on US and Iraqi security forces in recent weeks.

Mr Al-Jaafari said he has proposed a 36-member cabinet - including three deputy premiers who lawmakers said would come from each of Iraq’s main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

A fourth deputy could also be added, Mr al-Jaafari said.

The cabinet would also have 17 Shiite Arab ministers, eight Kurds, six Sunni Arabs and one Christian, fulfilling promises by leaders of the Shiite majority to share power among ethnic and religious groups, lawmakers from Mr al-Jaafari’s Iraqi United Alliance said. Officials said at least two were women.

A formal handover between outgoing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his successor will take place in the coming days, Mr al-Jaafari said.

Mr Allawi’s Iraqi List party was not included in the new cabinet, Shiite lawmakers said.

They said they had given up trying to balance Mr Allawi’s demands with those of Sunni factions that could offer help in beginning talks with Sunni militants, who are believed to be the backbone of the insurgency.

Lamia Abed Khadouri al-Sagri, a National Assembly legislator and member of Mr Allawi’s Iraqi List party, was shot down in the Hay Aour neighbourhood of eastern Baghdad, police said.

“We believe it is politically motivated. She was killed in her home,” said Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie.

The attack is being investigated and police are taking precautions to protect other legislators, he said.

Insurgents have targeted senior lawmakers and Iraqi politicians in a bid to further destabilise reconstruction efforts in the country.

Last week, a suicide car bomb exploded near a police checkpoint as Mr Allawi’s convoy drove home. One policeman was killed and two were wounded, but Mr Allawi escaped unharmed.