Shi’ite parties refuse to back down on choice for Iraqi premier

THE political impasse over Iraq’s new government tightened yesterday as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s party indicated it was standing firm for him to keep the post despite opposition from Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

Ali al-Adeeb, a top official in the Dawa party, said the group would not put forward anyone else as the Shi’ite Muslim nominee for premier unless Mr al-Jaafari decided to step aside.

The announcement pointed to further delays in negotiations to form a broad-based government.

An alliance of seven Shi’ite parties has deferred to Dawa to decide whether the bloc should stand with its February decision to nominate Mr al-Jaafari to head the new government.

Sunnis and Kurds oppose him, saying he has failed to stop the recent surge in sectarian bloodshed, and neither side has enough votes to force a decision.

The stand-off forced Iraqi officials to call off a plan for convening parliament yesterday.

Police yesterday discovered the body of the brother of a prominent Sunni Arab politician who is a major player in the negotiations over a new government.

Taha al-Mutlaq, brother of Saleh al-Mutlaq, went missing nearly three weeks ago while travelling to Salahuddin province to the north. At the time, Saleh al-Mutlaq said he thought the disappearance was politically motivated.

It was the second time in the past week that the brother of a major Sunni politician has died violently. On Thursday, Mahmoud al-Hashimi, whose brother heads Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab party, was slain along with a companion as they drove through a mostly Shiite area of east Baghdad.

Baghdad police reported finding 15 other corpses in what appeared to be sectarian violence. Twelve bullet-riddled bodies, also bearing signs of torture, were inside a vehicle in the city’s southern Dora district and three blindfolded and handcuffed men were recovered in the mostly Shi’ite neighbourhood of Shula.