Negotiators in Iraq said they hoped to finalise the make-up of a unity government on Friday, the eve of an expected parliamentary vote to approve a new cabinet.
A source close to the prime minister-designate said a deal was within reach on a broad coalition of Shias, minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds, which the United States is counting on to halt a slide towards civil war. "Talks have entered the final phase," the source said. "We hope to finish everything today."
Parliament is scheduled to meet on Saturday to approve the government of Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki, ending months of political deadlock that followed December's election.
Political sources said parties had virtually agreed that the oil ministry top job would be given to nuclear scientist and Maliki's fellow Shia Islamist Hussain al-Shahristani. It is a key portfolio for lifting Iraqis out of poverty. But they were still arguing over the defence and interior ministries, even though it had already been agreed that they should go respectively to a Sunni and Shia free of ties with the armed militias that have mushroomed in post-war Iraq.
The formation of Iraq's first full-term government since the US-led invasion in 2003 will be hailed as major progress in Washington and London, which are keen to start drawing down their combined 140,000 troops in the country.
But analysts cautioned that while a government encompassing Iraq's main ethnic and religious groups was a key step forward, that may have been the easy part in a country where people risk their lives in some cities by just venturing outside. Many Iraqis complain that daily life has worsened since Saddam Hussein's fall, with a lack of jobs and frequent power and water cuts. Four million of its 26 million people now live in extreme poverty, according to a UN-backed study this month.
UAE DIPLOMAT TO BE FREED: TV
DUBAI: The family of a kidnapped United Arab Emirates diplomat in Iraq said they had heard he would be released on Friday, Al Arabiya television reported.
"We have heard (Naji will be released) but there is no confirmation from UAE authorities or officials," the brother of Naji al-Noaimi, Mohammed, told Al Arabiya television by telephone.
The source of the family's information was not immediately clear.
Noaimi was abducted in Baghdad on Tuesday after a short drive from the embassy to visit a colleague. His driver was shot in the kidnapping and later died of his wounds.