We have a deal with Kurds on coalition, say Shiites
March 23, 2005

By smh.com.au:

Leading Shiite politicians say they have finally brokered a deal with Kurdish parties to end a debilitating impasse over the formation of Iraq's new government.

They said on Tuesday that Iraq's new parliament, which held its largely ceremonial inaugural session last week, would reconvene on Saturday to try to form a coalition administration.

"We have agreed on almost everything, and expect to present an agreement on a government of national unity to parliament by the end of the week," said Jawad al-Maliki, a senior aide to Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the prime minister in waiting.

The main Shiite alliance, put together with the blessing of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, emerged from the January 30 vote with 140 seats in the 275-member assembly, and the Kurds with 75. Both have since been trying to form a coalition to muster the two-thirds parliamentary support necessary to elect a president and establish a government.

Mr Maliki said he was confident a deal could be signed, perhaps even by yesterday.

Sources said Jalal Talabani, the veteran Kurdish leader widely expected to become the new president, is then likely to visit the Shiite holy city of Najaf to seek Ayatollah Sistani's approval.

The Speaker of parliament is expected to be a Sunni Arab, possibly the current interim President, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar. Kurds have also been trying to persuade the interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, whose party came third in the elections, to join the new administration. His name has been linked with the vice-presidency.

A Shiite negotiator, Maryam Rayes, said the Shiite bloc was expected to take 16 or 17 ministries, the Kurds seven or eight and the Sunni minority four to six.

She said the Shiites would take the Interior and Finance ministries, plus the cabinet post of National Security Adviser, while the

Kurds are expected to hold the Foreign Ministry and probably Oil.

The bloodshed continued yesterday as Iraqi police commandos backed by US troops killed at least 45 militants, many of them foreign fighters, in a battle to seize an insurgent camp about 160 kilometres north of Baghdad, officials said.

On Tuesday, nine Iraqis, including three soldiers, were killed in mainly Sunni areas in the north. At least seven Iraqi commandos died in a separate incident when they raided an insurgent base near Samarra with the backing of US troops, the US military said.

A gun battle erupted on Tuesday in the Dura district of Baghdad. Shopkeepers grabbed their weapons and returned fire at three cars from which gunmen were spraying their premises with bullets. Police and Iraqi national guard joined the melee before three gunmen were killed and another three arrested.

 Ukrainian troops have been asked to remain in Iraq beyond their target withdrawal date to help oversee parliamentary elections in December, a senior official said. Ukraine last week brought home 137 servicemen in the first stage of the withdrawal of a 1600-man force. The remainder were scheduled to leave the country by October 15.

Source Link: http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/We-have-a-deal-with-Kurds-on-coalition-say-Shiites/2005/03/23/1111525228847.html