New Iraqi government approved but key ministries still vacant
Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Iraqi parliament yesterday approved the new government of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, with the aim of uniting national forces against the militants of the Islamic State (IS). Some key ministries such as interior and defense remain empty, but Abadi has promised that they will be filled within a week.
The new prime minister, a moderate Shiite,
appointed Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi as oil
minister and the Kurdish Rouz Nouri
Shawis finances. He
also chose Saleh al-Mutlak, a Sunni, and
Hoshyar Zebari, a
Kurd, as vice-premiers. The outgoing
prime minister, Nouri al Maliki,
was entrusted with the post of vice-president.
Abadi has an important
task: to mend the trust and
cooperation among all components
of Iraqi society after the Maliki
administration that took office in 2006, which favored Shiites, penalizing
Sunnis (and former Saddam Hussein allies). In fact, Sunnis are the weak link through
which the Islamic Army has entered
Iraq and conquered
almost a third of its territory.
Abadi's program includes the need to rebuild the army, reach agreement on Kurdistan's autonomy, give more power to local administrations and fight corruption. His government was voted by 177 votes out of 325.
President Barack Obama congratulated Abadi in a phone call. His Secretary of State, John Kerry, is traveling in the Middle East to gather support for an international coalition to combats the IS. According to a US diplomatic spokesman, at least 40 states say they were willing to work together to "weaken" and "defeat" the IS. Obama has already announced that the fight against IS will take place with air raids, without troops on the ground and without cooperation with Syria and Iran, although these two countries are directly threatened by the militias of the Islamic Caliphate.
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