Iraq's parliament approved six new ministers on Sunday hoping to fill the political void that has stoked the insurgency, but one minister turned down the job, leaving the cabinet still incomplete three months after polls. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari had announced the cabinet was complete after months of bickering to agree the balance of power between competing sectarian and ethnic blocs, and vowed to crack down on an escalating insurgency. But proposed human rights minister Hisham al-Shibli told Reuters he had been picked purely to placate Iraq's restive Sunni Arab minority, and said he was rejecting the post.
"This post was given to me without anyone consulting me. I was surprised when they nominated me. It was just because I am a Sunni," he said. "This is something I reject completely. I am a democratic figure ... and I am completely against sectarianism."
The Sunni Arab minority dominated Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule but was sidelined after the elections, when most Sunni Arabs stayed away from the polls due to a boycott and fears of insurgent violence. There are only 17 Sunni Arab lawmakers in the 275-member parliament.
Wary of fuelling sectarian and ethnic tension and determined to defeat an insurgency dominated by Sunni Arab guerrillas, the Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs that dominate parliament pledged to include several Sunni Arabs in their cabinet.
The confusion over the human rights portfolio is the latest embarrassment for Iraq's leaders, who have infuriated many Iraqis by taking so long to agree a cabinet.
Other appointments announced on Sunday included the important defence and oil ministries.
Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab former military officer with tribal ties to Iraq's rebellious western Anbar province, was named defence minister. The government hopes that putting a Sunni Arab in the post will help undermine the insurgency.
A Sunni Arab was also appointed to the industry ministry, and a Sunni Arab deputy prime minister was named to join Shi'ite and Kurdish deputies already appointed.
A respected Shi'ite official, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, was named oil minister, a key post in the oil-rich nation.
"Our new motto in the ministry is fight corruption and boost production," Bahr al-Uloum told a news conference.
Jaafari had hoped that with a new cabinet fully in place, he would press ahead with efforts to defeat the insurgency. "We will take all necessary steps to fight this monstrous phenomenon," he said.
But the debacle over the human rights post underlines the divisions in government that have hampered efforts to tackle violence. Insurgent attacks escalated over the past 10 days, with at least 300 people killed in suicide attacks and bombings.
Gunmen assassinated senior transport ministry official Zobaa Yassin as he drove to work on Sunday, police said.
The US military said it had struck back against insurgents in the western town of Qaim on the Syrian border, killing six and capturing 54 in a raid on Sunday.
Two US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the town of Khaldiya, another insurgent stronghold in western Iraq, the US military said. Since the US invasion in March 2003, 1,219 US military and Pentagon personnel have been killed in action in Iraq. Including non-combat deaths, the toll is 1,596.
Comments
Comments are closed.