Cabinet approved by Iraqi parliament

AFTER nearly three months of political wrangling, Iraq’s interim National Assembly approved a partial cabinet yesterday, ushering in the country’s first elected government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

However, the 37-member cabinet still has two vacancies and five acting ministers, and fails to incorporate in a meaningful way the Sunni Arab minority due to a dispute over the suitability of Ba’athists who served in Saddam Hussein’s regime. The historic decision was made with a third of legislators in the 275-member National Assembly absent.

Prime minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that decisions over the vacant and acting cabinet positions will be made soon.

A handover between outgoing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Mr al-Jaafari also was expected to take place within days as Iraqi politicians have been under increasing US pressure to get a transitional government in place so they can focus on taking over efforts to suppress the insurgency.

Many Iraqis believe the political impasse had emboldened insurgents, who have staged dramatic and well-co-ordinated attacks in recent weeks.

Mr al-Jaafari said the challenges the new government faces over security, services and reconstruction are big, but the Iraqis who “challenged tyranny” by voting for a new parliament “will help this government to succeed and will not be intimidated.” A total of 180 of the 185 lawmakers present approved the list by a show of hands, Speaker Hajim al-Hassani announced. Ninety lawmakers were absent for the vote.

“This is the first step in building the new Iraq,” Mr al-Jaafari told lawmakers. “The main thing to keep in mind is that no one will be excluded. Whether in the cabinet or not, all sides will have the right to participate.”

Mr al-Jaafari submitted a broad-based cabinet, including members of Iraq’s main Shi’ite, Sunni, Kurdish and Christian factions. But disputes remained over two deputy prime ministers’ slots and the defence, oil, electricity, industry and human rights ministries.

Mr Allawi’s Iraqi List party was not included in the cabinet. Many Shi’ites have long resented the secular Mr Allawi, accusing his outgoing administration of including former Ba’athists in the government and security forces.

Mr al-Jaafari be acting defence minister, a position that was supposed to go to a Sunni Arab.

Ahmad Chalabi, a Shi’ite Arab and former Pentagon favourite, will be one of four deputy prime ministers and acting oil minister.

Kurdish official and former vice president Rowsch Nouri Shaways will be another deputy and acting electricity minister.

Mr al-Jaafari has struggled to reconcile the competing demands of Iraq’s myriad factions since landmark January 30 elections.

Shi’ite leaders rejected his initial choices for a Sunni deputy prime minister and defence minister because of suspicions they had ties to Saddam’s Ba’ath Party, which brutally repressed Iraqi’s majority Shi’ites and minority Kurds.

Mr al-Jaafari also faced infighting within his Shi’ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, over the oil and electricity portfolios.

Saddam, meanwhile, spent his 68th birthday in US custody. A defence lawyer said he was in good health and high spirits.