Shi’ites, Kurds talks in bid to form government

IRAQ’S deputy president Rowsch Shways said talks on a new government between the main Shi’ite alliance and Kurds would continue after parliament meets for the first time on Wednesday.

Mr Shways said the two sides held some common positions but they were too few for agreement. He did not specify upon which points the sides had failed to reach a deal. Talks between the parties collapsed earlier, crushing hopes it would be in place before parliament, elected despite relentless violence, meets for the first time this week.

Officials from the Shi’ite alliance that won the most votes and the Kurdish bloc that came second said yesterday they had failed to agree on two sticky issues - distributing top cabinet posts and extending the Kurds’ autonomous region in the north.