Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc said yesterday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shiite-led government after a disagreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over a Cabinet post.
Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of US policy in Iraq and is widely seen as a vital step in reconciling the country’s factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a Cabinet dominated by Shiites and Kurds.
The breakdown in talks could undermine Washington’s efforts to prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to the Iraqi government at a conference in Sweden today as a way of countering Shiite Iran’s growing influence in Iraq.
“We have suspended negotiations with the government and pulled out our candidates,” said Salim al-Jibouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front.
He said the decision was taken after Maliki objected to a candidate for a Cabinet position.
The Accordance Front pulled out of Maliki’s national unity government in August, demanding the release of mainly Sunni Arab detainees in Iraq’s jails and calling for a greater say in security matters.
Rejection
Jibouri said the Accordance Front drew up a list of candidates for six Cabinet posts to hand to the government but Maliki rejected the nomination for the Planning Ministry.
Officials from Maliki’s office were not immediately available for comment.
Since becoming prime minister in May 2006, Maliki has faced constant criticism from Iraq’s minority Sunni Arab community that he has promoted the interests of the majority Shiites ahead of the country’s other sectarian and ethnic groups.
But he won praise from Sunni Arab politicians after launching a crackdown on Shiite militias loyal to anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad and the southern oil city of Basra.
Gaining the backing of Iraq’s Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab neighbors could help Maliki strengthen his government, which is enjoying some breathing space after a sharp fall in violence.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Maliki will chair the conference in Sweden today, aimed at assessing progress in implementing a plan adopted at a meeting in Egypt last year to help Iraq rebuild after five years of war.
The US has been pressing Sunni Arab governments to shore up Maliki’s government by forgiving debts and opening diplomatic missions.
Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, the region’s most influential country, wants Maliki’s government to reach out politically to Sunnis, which ruled Iraq under former president Saddam Hussein.
Protests
Maliki also faces pressure to accommodate Sadr whose Mehdi Army militia have been keeping a low profile after Iraqi security forces took over his Baghdad stronghold under a truce after weeks of fighting.
Sadr pulled his bloc out of Maliki’s government last year in protest at his refusal to negotiate a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.
Sadr has called for a protest campaign to force Baghdad to abandon a proposed deal that would extend the US troop presence in Iraq beyond this year.
He said the proposed Status of Forces Agreement aimed at giving a legal basis to US troops after the Dec. 31 expiry of a UN mandate defining their current status was “against Iraqi national interests.”
“After every Friday prayers, everyone must protest and demonstrate until the agreement is canceled,” he said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse yesterday.
He said his powerful movement planned to send delegations to neighboring countries and to the West and to international bodies such as the UN, the Arab League and the EU to explain its position.
He said the Iraqi government should consult the people before entering into any deal with Washington.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS