Shi’ites to get largest share of ministries in plan for Iraqi Cabinet

SHI’ITES will get the largest share of ministries in Iraq in proposals for a new cabinet submitted yesterday to the president by Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Under the proposal, the majority Shi’ites would get the largest share of 32 ministries, with the others distributed among Kurdish, Sunni and Christian factions, lawmakers said.

Three deputy premiers are also proposed - one each from the majority Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds - said Ali al-Adib, a lawmaker with Mr al-Jaafari’s Shi’ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in the 275-member National Assembly.

Iraqi politicians have been under US pressure to form a new transitional government nearly three months after the January 30 elections. Many believe the impasse has emboldened insurgents, who have launched co-ordinated attacks on US troops and Iraqi security forces in recent weeks, causing severe casualties.

Insurgents fired mortars at a US military base in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, yesterday, US Major Richard Goldenberg said. The Americans, who did not return fire, suffered no casualties, he said. But one round landed outside the base and wounded an Iraqi civilian, said police Lieutenant Qasim Muhammed. At least 1,569 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

Mr Al-Jaafari went into the meeting with President Jalal Talabani yesterday afternoon, said the prime minister’s spokesman, Abdul Razak al-Kadhi. He declined to confirm details of the proposal under discussion.

If the list is approved by Mr Talabani’s three-member presidential council, Mr al-Jaafari could submit it to the interim National Assembly for a vote as soon as today.

The party of outgoing Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was not included in the list, said Mr al-Adib, the alliance lawmaker. Mr Allawi’s Iraqi List party controls 40 seats in the National Assembly.

Many Shi’ites have long resented the secular Allawi, accusing his outgoing administration of including former members of Saddam’s Baath Party, which brutally repressed Shi’ites and Kurds, in the interim government and security forces.

On Sunday, alliance lawmakers said Mr al-Jaafari had decided to abandon attempts to include Mr Allawi’s party and offer Sunni representatives additional Cabinet seats, for a total of five or six.

Yesterday, Sunni Muslim politicians dropped their demand to include former Baath Party members in Iraq’s new Cabinet in a bid to get more ministries.

The issue is just one of many obstacles that have bogged down negotiations since the elections.

The Sunni minority is believed to be the backbone of the insurgency, and most members either boycotted the vote or stayed away for fear of attacks at the polls.