News 2005

Violence delays announcement of Iraq government
April 21, 2005

By Aljazeera.com:

Announcement of Iraq’s new government has been delayed due to last-minute disagreements and surge in violence, nearly three months after elections.

Reversing hopes he expressed yesterday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Thursday that he doesn’t think a deal will be reached today.

"I think the government will not be announced today ... We want to see the Sunni Arabs represented as well ... Negotiations also continue over the allocation of some posts," Mr. Talabani said in an interview with Turkey's CNN Turk television.

Disputes appeared during a meeting late on Wednesday with caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who escaped assassination bid after the talks, rejecting an offer to join the cabinet.

"The talks were going well, but the Shiites offered Allawi just two ministries, not the four that he wants, and he rejected the offer," one source said, referring to ministries offered to Allawi's
political party.

"There was also continued disagreement over what ministries the Sunnis should get. The question really is whether the Shiites want to create a government of national unity, or just a Shiite-Kurd government," he said.

Shiite politicians said they were still hoping to announce a deal later in the day, but didn't say when.

"We have made progress. An announcement will be made," said a senior official in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the main Shiite party.

Meanwhile, violence surged in the Iraqi capital on Thursday.

Two people were killed on the road to Baghdad's airport in a bomb attack targeting Western contract workers. The nationality of those who were killed remains unclear.

The blast hit a car carrying the contractors, a police spokesman said.

Right after the blast, the U.S. occupation forces blocked the highway, considered one of the most dangerous roads in Iraq.

On Wednesday, three foreign contractors were killed in another attack on the same road.

Allawi escapes assassination bid

Also Wednesday, Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi escaped unharmed an assassination bid when a car bomb exploded near his convoy in the Iraqi capital, killing at least two policemen, his spokesman Thaer al-Naqib said.

"He had attended an important meeting to discuss the formation of the government and was on his way back home when a car bomber blew himself up near the convoy as it approached the checkpoint," Mr. Naqib said.

"Thank God, the prime minister is well, but some policemen and members of his security team
were killed."

Allawi's guards opened fire at the attacker as he drove towards the convoy coming around the Faris al-Arabi roundabout near Zawra Park on the city's West side, Mr. Naqib said, adding that the attacker "did not stop and blew himself up almost near the middle of the convoy," he said.

It was a "massive blast and many homes in the area were badly damaged," Mr. Naqib said.

Earlier an interior ministry spokesman said that two policemen were killed and one wounded in a separate attack, which occurred at about 11:00pm (1900 GMT) and involved a pickup truck loaded with TNT and mortar rounds.

Source Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=8099