Jaafari ready to resign "if my people send me such a signal"
Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) Outgoing Prime Minister, Shiite Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said he is prepared to withdraw his nomination for a second term if asked to step aside. Talks to form a new government of national unity have stalled in part over his nomination.
No sooner had the first session of the National Assembly elected on December 15, 2005, begun that it was over after only 30 minutes. The 275 lawmakers met inside Baghdad's heavily guarded green zone to elect the new speaker, the Prime Minister and the President.
Despite pressures from the US, the parties failed to reach an agreement over who gets what in the new cabinet, especially the defence and security portfolios.
Kurdish, Sunni and secular parties have signalled their disagreement with Shiites over Jaafari's nomination. Jaafari said he would withdraw his name "if my people send me such a signal," but it is not clear which people he meant. In previous statements, he had said he would not pull out.
Many Sunnis blame Jaafari for the torture and murder of "insurgents" by Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces.
Secular Iraqis and the US are worried about Shiite ties to Iran and the country's growing Shiite-led Islamisation.
For many other Iraqis, Jaafari embodies the failure to tackle the ongoing economic crisis and the lack of security.
After a brief speech by the outgoing Speaker Hajim al-Assani, the doyen of the assembly Adnan al-Pachachi said in a live broadcast that "we have to tell the world there will be no civil war among the Iraqi people". For weeks now, sectarian violence has pitted Shiites against Sunnis.
In view of the pending inaugural session of parliament, the government banned all car traffic in the capital from 8 pm yesterday till 4 pm today. All public buildings were also closed today.
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22/04/2006
