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Iraqi leaders explore formation of national unity government

Atul Aneja

Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities far from achieving breakthrough

DUBAI: Iraq's Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities are discussing the formation of the new government, but are still far from achieving a breakthrough.

Top Sunni politicians Adnan al-Dulaimi and Tarek al-Hashmi, who are part of the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) are leading a delegation for talks with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister and Shia leader Ibrahim Jaffari has also held talks with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. It is, however, not yet clear whether a three-way meeting of Sunnis, Shias and Kurds has taken place. The focus of the dialogue appears to be the formation of a national unity government, in which the Sunni community would also feature prominently.

The Americans have been backing this move, in the hope that political accommodation of the Sunnis, who have been spearheading the armed resistance, would result in a drop in violence, thus allowing a sustained U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Talabani in talks

President Jalal Talabani, who is of Kurdish origin, is also pursuing this track. Last week, the top Shia leader Abdulaziz al-Hakim held talks with Mr. Talabani and conveyed the impression that his pro-Iran group — the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) — was inclined to forge a national political coalition. However, there has been a setback to this move, as another Shia group, led by Moqtada al-Sadr has set new conditions for a tie-up with the Sunnis.

The Arabic daily, Al Hayat has reported that Mr. Al-Sadr has demanded that secular Sunnis represented in the Iraqiyah list of former Prime Minister Iyad Alllawi be excluded from any political arrangement. Mr. Allawi's party includes some of the former Ba'ath party functionaries that Mr. Al-Sadr's group has strongly opposed.

Meanwhile, the Americans, fixated on an "exit strategy", have been advocating the inclusion of the Sunnis in the Iraqi security establishment, which has now been dominated by the SCIRI. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Peter Pace, who spent the New Year in Iraq has said the Iraqi Government needs to reach out more to people, especially the minority Sunni community.

The armed wing of the SCIRI has been accused of fighting street battles with Sunni guerilla groups, thereby threatening civil war conditions and undermining chances of an early American exit from Iraq.

There has been an assassination attempt on the life of the Turkish ambassador to Iraq. Gunmen attacked the envoy's convoy on the Baghdad airport road, injuring him slightly.

Short of majority

Meanwhile, the results of the Parliamentary polls were announced in Baghdad on Friday. The Shia-based coalition won the elections but fell short of an absolute majority. The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) that headed the outgoing Parliament won 128 seats, comprising 46 per cent of the total in the 275-member Assembly. The Kurdish Alliance, which was the UIA's main partner, won 53 seats. The two Sunni parties have won a total of 55 seats.

The Iraqi Accord Front, which is the largest Sunni party, got 44 seats, while its partner, the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, secured 11. Mr. Allawi's secular-based Iraqiyah party won 25 seats and the Kurdish Islamic Party got five seats.

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