Iraq Shi’ite leaders hold talks on government

By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Shi’ite leaders met on Sunday in
another attempt to break an impasse over the prime minister,
hoping to pave the way for a unity government many see as the
only way to avert open civil war.

The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) faces mounting pressure to
withdraw Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its candidate for prime
minister, but finding a replacement could put a strain on the
fragile bloc and plunge the country into another political
crisis.

Jaafari, who also faces internal opposition from UIA
members, has been widely criticised by Kurdish and Sunni
politicians for failing to lead Iraq out of a security crisis
in his year in power as interim prime minister.

But the Dawa party leader refuses to step aside, raising
fears among Iraq’s main allies the United States and Britain
that the political vacuum will play into the hands of
insurgents and fuel sectarian violence.

“The chances of Jaafari staying are getting slim,” said a
senior Alliance source. But not all Alliance officials support
that view, underscoring the bloc’s divisions.

Three years after the fall of Baghdad raised hopes of a new
era of prosperity and democracy, Iraqis are most concerned with
surviving suicide bombings, shootings and kidnappings as their
leaders bicker.

The latest talks come after three days of bombings on
Shi’ite targets that killed more than 100 people and raised
fresh fears of open civil war.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has warned that civil war
had started in Iraq and that it could spread in the region.

“It’s not on the threshold (of civil war). It’s pretty much
started. There are Sunnis, Shi’ites, Kurds and those types
which come from Asia,” Mubarak said in an interview aired on
Saturday on pan-Arab satellite television channel Al Arabiya.

The February bombing of a Shi’ite shrine in Samarra touched
off reprisals and pushed Iraq closer than ever to open civil
war.

Hundreds of bodies have appeared on the streets with
gunshot wounds and showing signs of torture as Sunni Arab
leaders accuse the Shi’ite-led government of sanctioning
militia death squads, a charge it denies.

Washington and London hope the political process will keep
Iraq away from the brink of all-out sectarian warfare.

But there are still no clear replacements for Jaafari, only
occasional names that are floated which offer little relief for
Iraqis still waiting for post-war Iraq’s first full-term
government.