Iraq’s Shi’ite bloc to vote on PM Jaafari

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Shi’ite Alliance said on
Thursday it would hold a new internal vote to name a prime
minister, raising the possibility that Ibrahim al-Jaafari would
be removed to end a months-long impasse over a unity
government.

The Alliance announced the move after Jaafari, who had
ignored calls from Sunni Arabs, Kurds and even some Shi’ites to
step aside, invited it to decide whether he should resign.

“The general chamber in the Alliance will vote on this
issue as it did previously. That will be soon,” Alliance member
Hussain al-Shahristani told a news conference.

Jaafari’s refusal to step down as the Alliance’s nominee
for prime minister has paralyzed the U.S.-backed political
process.

In a televised speech to the nation on Thursday night,
Jaafari reiterated it was up to the Alliance to decide his
fate.

“I left the choice with them (the Alliance), to do whatever
they want,” he said.

But his 20-minute speech stopped short of saying he was
ready to resign to end the political paralysis.

Washington is increasingly frustrated at the inability of
Iraqi leaders to put together a government including Shi’ites,
Sunni Arabs and Kurds, seen as the best hope of taming a Sunni
insurgency, halting sectarian bloodshed and averting civil war.

Failure to agree how to share government posts prompted
Iraqi legislators to postpone Thursday’s scheduled meeting of
parliament until Saturday — the second such delay in a week.

The Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, chose Jaafari
by a one-vote margin in an internal ballot in February. The
vote exposed splits in the grouping that won December
elections.

Critics says Jaafari is a weak leader who has failed to
curb violence and improve the economy in his year in office.

Ali al-Adeeb, a member of Jaafari’s Dawa party, is one name
floated by the Alliance as a possible replacement.

PARLIAMENT SESSION POSTPONED

Acting parliament speaker Adnan Pachachi delayed the
assembly session to April 22 to give blocs more time to agree
on key posts. Parliament has sat only once since it was
elected.

“Leaders of political parties have agreed to postpone
parliament. There are still some issues that have not been
resolved yet,” Pachachi told a news conference.

Alliance legislators had threatened to boycott the sitting,
saying they would only attend if all parties agreed beforehand
on top posts, including that of assembly speaker.

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

But ditching Jaafari could split the Alliance, whose
electoral victory reversed decades of Sunni Arab domination
under Saddam Hussein and previous administrations.

Jaafari had won the ticket thanks to the support of Moqtada
al-Sadr, a young anti-U.S. cleric with growing political clout.

The deadlock over forming a national unity government has
coincided with a surge in violence that has pushed Iraq to the
brink of civil war three years after U.S.-led forces invaded.

The United States, which has more than 130,000 troops in
Iraq, says the political vacuum has allowed violence to thrive.

Even if Iraqi leaders finally agree on a new government,
they will have their work cut out stabilizing Iraqi regions
where sectarian tensions are at fever pitch.

“We are defending our lives and our neighbors and our
families from any attack. We are holding our guns up high,”
said Abu Yarer, an insurgent in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district.

About 50 rebels attacked Iraqi government forces overnight
on Monday in Adhamiya, sparking clashes so fierce that American
troops were called in to help.