Iraq's biggest Sunni block quits government
Mark Tran and agencies
Wednesday August 1, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Attempts at political reconciliation in Iraq suffered a further setback when the country's largest Sunni Arab political bloc withdrew from the government today.
The Iraqi Accordance Front said its six cabinet members would submit their resignations from Nouri al-Maliki's government.
The bloc - which last week suspended the work of its ministers - had demanded a greater say in security matters, accusing Mr Maliki's Shia-led coalition of failing to consult it on key issues.
The resignations threaten to undermine the government's "national unity" status, diminishing its legitimacy at a time when the White House and the US Congress are pressing for progress on national reconciliation.
Critics of US policy have argued that unless the Iraqi government can bridge the country's sectarian divides, any military progress from George Bush's troop "surge" will count for little.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the Accordance Front and an outspoken critic of Mr Maliki, told the Associated Press his bloc was "still insisting on withdrawing from the government if it doesn't meet our fair and objective demands".
"We don't want to take part in a government which claims it is a national unity one, but instead is sectarian rather than Iraqi," he said.
Senior Shia and Kurdish politicians have accused Mr Dulaimi of inciting sectarian strife.
In addition to the six cabinet ministers, the Accordance Front holds 44 of the Iraqi parliament's 275 seats. Despite the resignations, Mr Dulaimi stressed that his MPs would stay in the parliament.
"Withdrawing from the government doesn't mean that we will abandon the whole political process," he said. "We will continue our participation ... through the parliament, and we will contact other parliamentary blocs to achieve our demands."
Six ministers loyal to the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr quit Mr Maliki's government in June in protest at his refusal to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal. They have yet to be replaced.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia today said it would consider opening diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government. In recent days, US officials have accused Saudi Arabia - which is predominantly Sunni - of working to undermine the Maliki government.
Violence in Iraq continued unabated today, with 17 civilians killed in a car bomb in central Baghdad and the US military announcing the deaths of three more US soldiers. |
