Iraqi Communications Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi told AFP he quit his post on Monday, accusing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of "political interference" in his ministry. Allawi's resignation is the first by a cabinet minister since Iraq's national unity government was formed in December 2010, and comes just months after opponents of Maliki attempted to oust him through a no-confidence motion.
"I resigned because Maliki refused to... (stop) political interference in my ministry," Allawi said by telephone from London, referring to demands he made in late July for an end to meddling in his ministry. He specifically pointed to attempts to control who could appoint and transfer senior officials, alleging that the prime minister asked that a number of director-generals in the communications ministry be transferred to different ministries against Allawi's wishes. "Some of our DGs who are very truthful, they are working very hard, he (Maliki) asked me to transfer them back to their previous ministries," Allawi said. "I asked to keep them but he refused."
Communications ministry spokesman Samir al-Hasoon said that the ministry had received official documentation confirming Allawi's resignation. He will be replaced on an interim basis by current minister of state for provincial affairs Torhan al-Mufti, a Turkmen politician from Allawi's Iraqiya bloc.
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