Jaafari puts fate in hands of Shi’ite Alliance

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari said on Thursday his Shi’ite Alliance should decide
whether he should resign to end the deadlock over the formation
of a new government.

Jaafari, who has ignored calls from Sunni Arabs, Kurds and
some Shi’ites to step aside, appeared to softened his position
hours before political leaders were scheduled to meet in
parliament to try to end the impasse.

Alliance officials have once again thrown the political
process into doubt when they asked for the parliament meeting,
scheduled for 4 p.m. (1200 GMT) to be postponed. Washington has
been nudging the parties to speed up the formation of a
national unity government seen vital to avert a civil war.

An official from the Alliance, which nominated Jaafari in
an internal vote in February, read out a statement quoting
Jaafari as saying his fate now rests with those who picked him.

“You have chosen me and I return back this choice to you to
decide what you see appropriate,” Jawad al-Maliki, an official
from Jaafari’s Dawa party, quoted him as saying.

“You’ll find me totally prepared to accept your decision
for the sake of the unity of the Alliance.”

Earlier, Alliance legislators had threatened to boycott the
sitting, saying they would only attend if all parties agreed
beforehand on key posts, including the assembly speaker and a
presidential council.

Acting speaker of parliament Adnan Pachachi said parliament
would convene as scheduled despite Shi’ite calls for a delay
but said legislators could decide to adjourn if Shi’ites stayed
out.

The assembly, which has sat only once since it was elected
in December, has already been postponed once in less than a
week to give parties more time to bury their differences.

U.S. FRUSTRATION

The United States hopes a government comprising Shi’ites,
Sunni Arabs and Kurds will foster stability and set the stage
for an eventual drawdown of U.S. troops. It has grown
increasingly anxious as Iraqi politicians struggle to form an
administration four months after elections in December.

Signaling growing frustration at the delay, President Bush
said on Wednesday the “the political process in Iraq must occur
soon and we are working toward that end.”

By throwing his fate at the Alliance, Jaafari passes the
final decision to Alliance leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

Hakim, a leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, has remained conspicuously silent as
opposition to Jaafari grew, including from within the Alliance.

Ditching Jaafari, who critics say is a weak leader who has
failed to curb violence and improve the economy in his year in
office, could split the once monolithic bloc.

Jaafari won the nomination thanks to the support of Moqtada
al-Sadr, a young radical cleric with growing political clout.

Although legislators will not resolve the premiership row
on Thursday, Pachachi said parliament could vote on a new
speaker and his two deputies, removing smaller hurdles in the
impasse.

The Alliance bloc, drawn from the country’s majority Muslim
Shi’ites, earned the constitutional right to choose a prime
minister after winning 130 seats in the 275-member assembly.

Easing the way to fill the speaker’s post, Sunni leader
Tareq al-Hashemi withdrew his candidacy after objections by
Shi’ite legislators, who expressed concern over his past links
to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, Sunni sources said.

Instead, the Iraqi Accordance Front, the minority Sunnis’
largest parliamentary group, decided on Wednesday to support
Adnan al-Dulaimi for speaker, a post expected to go to a Sunni.

The secular group of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who
is popular in Washington, will propose him for one of the two
vice presidents, a largely ceremonial post. Allawi’s group, the
Iraqi List, is the fourth biggest bloc, with 25 seats.

Jaafari’s critics say he is a weak leader who has failed to
curb violence and improve the economy in his year in office.

He told a televised news conference on Wednesday that
resigning was “absolutely not” in his plans.

The political paralysis has coincided with a surge in
violence that has pushed Iraq toward the brink of civil war
three years after U.S. forces invaded.

The United States, which has more than 130,000 troops in
Iraq, has blamed the political vacuum for fuelling violence.