IRBIL, Iraq – Leaders of Iraq's main political blocs are meeting in the northern city of Irbil in a rare face-to-face gathering that could signal progress in breaking the country's political deadlock.
Among the crowd in the Irbil conference hall Monday were current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the man who would like to take his job, Ayad Allawi.
Allawi heads the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition that won 91 seats in the parliament to al-Maliki's 89 seats. With neither side winning a majority in the 325-seat parliament, an eight-month period of intense political negotiations followed the March 7 election.
The Irbil gathering comes only hours after seven Shiite pilgrims were killed in a car bomb blast in Iraq's holy city of Karbala.
By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Yahya Barzanji, Associated Press – 34 mins ago
IRBIL, Iraq – Leaders of Iraq's main political blocs met Monday in the northern city of Irbil in a rare face-to-face gathering that could signal progress in breaking the country's political deadlock.
Just hours before the long-awaited gathering, a car bomb in the holy city of Karbala killed seven Shiite pilgrims, including six Iranians, underlying the risk to Iraq's security as politicians argue over who will lead the next government.
Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq, lobbied for the meeting to be held in his hometown Irbil. He opened Monday's gathering with a call to Iraqi politicians to work together.
"It is a historic moment with deep meaning to meet together to discuss and agree on the country's future and to develop it in a way that meets the ambitions of the Iraqi people," he said.
The meeting was a who's who of the Iraqi political scene and the first time all the main political leaders have met publicly since the March 7 election.
Among the crowd in the Irbil conference hall Monday were current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the man who would like to take his job, Ayad Allawi.
Allawi heads the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition that won 91 seats in the parliament to al-Maliki's 89 seats. With neither side winning a majority in the 325-seat parliament, an eight-month period of intense political negotiations followed the March polls.
The head of the Iranian-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Ammar al-Hakim, as well as senior members of the anti-American Sadrist alliance were also in attendance.
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Iraqi leaders meet to end govt formation impasse
08 Nov 2010 10:03:30 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Meeting involves all political blocs
* Sunni-backed alliance nearing agreement on deal
By Waleed Ibrahim
ARBIL, Iraq, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi political leaders began a meeting on Monday that could break an eight month deadlock over the formation of a new government and assure incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki a second term.
The meeting, hosted by Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani in the Kurdish capital Arbil, could last two days and result in a government of national unity that includes Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.
Iraq has been without a new government since an inconclusive March 7 election which gave the cross-sectarian Iraqiya alliance an edge, fuelling tensions just as the sectarian carnage unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion recedes and U.S. forces prepare for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.
The next government needs a component that represents the country's minority Sunnis if it is going to try and heal old sectarian wounds. Excluding Iraqiya from power could anger its Sunni voters and reinvigorate a weakened but still lethal Sunni Islamist insurgency.
Iraqiya had said it will not take part in a government led by Maliki and raised the possibility it might boycott a parliament session set for later this week.
But senior leaders of Iraqiya said on Monday they expected they would ultimately agree to link up with Maliki while a group of disenchanted lawmakers within the bloc warned they would split from it if it did not.
Maliki's coalition has merged with other Shi'ite groups and reached deals with minority Kurds, paving the way for him to retain power. It also has assurances of support from small Sunni-based factions.
Iraqiya's likely change of heart was seen as a sign that it now recognises that Maliki's alliance has enough backing to form a government without it.
"There is a tendency to participate in the government," said Osama al-Nujaifi, a senior Sunni Arab leader of Iraqiya. "There are signs of a deal ... There are still discussions about reforms and power sharing."
Under an expected deal, Maliki would remain prime minister and Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, would retain the presidency. Iraqiya could be offered the speaker's post in parliament, the foreign ministry and a role with possibly expanded authority over defence issues, the economy and foreign affairs.
The political leaders want to strike a broad agreement before Thursday's parliamentary session. Parliament has sat only once -- in June for 17 minutes -- since the election.
The country's highest court last month ordered lawmakers to get to work and resume sessions, putting pressure on Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions to accelerate efforts to reach an agreement.
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By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Yahya Barzanji, Associated Press – 13 mins ago
IRBIL, Iraq – Leaders of all the main Iraqi political blocs met Monday for the first time since March elections in a new push to break the eight-month deadlock over forming a new government. Car bombs struck the country's two holiest cities and killed 14 people, a reminder that insurgents remain determined to destabilize Iraq.
The 90-minute meeting of political leaders in the northern town of Irbil kicked off three days of negotiations that could signal the deeply divided political blocs are close to a power-sharing agreement. However, officials said there are still major obstacles to overcome.
Since inconclusive March 7 elections, insurgents have tried to exploit political uncertainty over the new government with periodic violence. Monday's blasts were the third major attacks since last week, following the slaughter of more than 50 Christians in a Baghdad church and a string of 13 coordinated bombings across Baghdad that killed more than 70 people.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is fighting to keep his job, was among the leaders who attended the meeting in Irbil. His main rival, Ayad Allawi, was also there. Allawi heads the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition that won 91 seats, more than any other party, in the parliamentary election. Al-Maliki's bloc took second with 89 seats.
But no party won an outright majority in the 325-seat parliament and the blocs have spent the past eight months haggling to form alliances that could lead to a government inclusive enough so that it will not trigger a new outbreak of sectarian strife that just a few years ago brought Iraq to the brink of civil war.
Al-Maliki described the meeting as a new push forward by the political blocs to reach an agreement.
"We need to open a new page and leave the past behind," he said.
Others who attended pointed to difficulties in forging an agreement between political parties that have in the past fought their battles on the streets and still view each other with deep suspicion.
Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi, a Sunni from the Iraqiya alliance, warned that negotiating committees who have been meeting for weeks before the Irbil summit had left many of the most contentious issues to the leaders to work out.
"Based on that, I do not think that the leaders will be able to solve these sticking points because they need a lot of discussion and study," he said. "I do not know how the leaders, today and tomorrow, will be able to discuss this list of sensitive and strategic issues during this short period of time."
After the nationally televised meeting concluded, the political leaders agreed to meet again in Baghdad the following day before flying out of Irbil.
Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq, lobbied for the meeting to be held in Irbil, seat of the Kurdish government. Also in attendance in the large auditorium were Ammar al-Hakim, who heads the Iranian-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Iraq's other vice president, who is a Shiite, Adel Abdul-Mahdi.
Two separate car bombings struck Iraq's two holiest cities, Karbala and Najaf, the sites of important shrines revered by the country's Shiite majority.
Hours before the political leaders met, seven pilgrims were killed in a car bomb blast in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of the Iraqi capital.
Police and hospital officials said dead included six Iranians and one Iraqi and that at least 35 others were wounded in the blast, including Iranian and Pakistani nationals.
The car bomb exploded at a parking lot in central Karbala that is used by pilgrims traveling between Iraq's holy sites. Such parking lots have often been targeted by Sunni militants unable to get close to the holy shrines due to beefed up security.
Later Monday a suicide bomber blew himself up just 500 yards from the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the most revered Shiite saints and a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, killing seven people including two Iranian pilgrims, according to police and hospital officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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