Iraq govt impasse as violence continues

Sunni Muslim politicians have dropped their demand to include former members of Saddam Hussein’s party in Iraq’s new cabinet in a bid to get more ministries.

The Sunni minority is believed to be the backbone of the insurgency and many blame the impasse in forming a new government for a resurgence in violence.

The development comes as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined by other top US officials, is trying to persuade politicians from the Shiite majority and their Kurdish allies to wrap up negotiations to form a new government.

As leaders of Iraq’s main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions continued their backroom wheeling and dealing, Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari again put off his long-promised cabinet announcement.

Alliance members, who control 148 seats in the 275-member National Assembly, have refuse to give any top posts to members of the party that carried out Saddam’s brutal suppression of the Shiites and Kurds.

The issue is just one of many obstacles that have bogged down negotiations since the January 30 parliamentary elections. Most Sunnis either boycotted the vote or stayed away for fear of being attacked.

Further complicating negotiations, a rival Sunni coalition entered the fray yesterday, saying it too should have a place in the cabinet.

The Council of Arab and Sunni Negotiators and the National Dialogue Council both include groups that boycotted the elections and could help open talks with insurgents.

With attacks on the increase, there has been intense pressure to end the political bickering and form a government that can take charge of efforts to suppress the violence.

Rice telephoned Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, on Friday to ask him to finish forming a government as soon as possible, two State Department officials said Monday.

Shiite lawmakers have accused some of their Kurdish allies of stalling negotiations in a bid to force out al-Jaafari, who automatically loses his position if he fails to form a government by May 7.

Some Kurdish legislators want a more secular prime minister and one who favours a federal government that would give strong autonomy to the Kurdish north.

Meanwhile, three roadside bombs aimed at US military convoys exploded in the capital yesterday, including one that killed an American soldier, said Lieutenant Colonel Clifford Kent of the US 3rd Infantry Division.

At least 1,569 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.