|
|
|
|
Gaping holes in Iraq's new
cabinet
By Valentinas Mite
PRAGUE - The new Iraqi cabinet sworn in
Monday remains incomplete, with several key
ministerial positions - including those for oil
and defense - yet to be filled.
The partly
formed cabinet reflects one of Iraq's most
persistent problems: how to bring in
representatives from the minority Sunni community.
The community dominated Iraq under former leader
Saddam Hussein, but mostly boycotted the January
election of the new National Assembly.
The
Shi'ite coalition that won most seats in the
election is willing to give several key posts to
Sunnis, including the crucial Defense Ministry.
But negotiators so far have failed to agree on who
should have the post.
One sign of the
extent of the disagreements may have been the
absence of outgoing President Ghazi Ajil al-Yawir,
a Sunni, from the swearing-in ceremony for the
cabinet. Many observers took his absence as a sign
of overall Sunni dissatisfaction with the process
of forming the government.
But Yahia Said,
a researcher on Iraq and other transitional
nations at the London School of Economics, says
Yawir's absence could equally be due to a rivalry
for power now going on among different Sunni
groups.
"Al-Yawir is not a representative
in any way of the vast majority of Sunnis," said
Said. "He got into parliament because he was voted
for by his tribe. He's not close in any way to
those involved with the insurgency. [Sunnis] don't
necessarily accept him as a legitimate and
authoritative representative."
Said says
three or four Sunni groups appear to be vying to
have representatives in the government.
He
also says one difficulty with resolving the
deadlock is that politicians have no criteria for
selecting between the rival groups.
"Because Sunnis largely boycotted the
elections and really the only people who voted is
the tribe of Ghazi al-Yawir, it is very
difficult," he said. "There is no objective
process to selecting Sunni representatives for
government positions or for any other positions."
The lack of Sunni representation concerns
not only the Sunni community but all of Iraq.
Insurgents are most active in the Sunni areas and
US and Iraqi officials have hoped that a credible
Sunni presence in the government would help
curtail the violence.
Said says the new
government needs not just Sunnis but influential
political figures to put down the insurgency.
"You don't need just any Sunni
participation because you have Ghazi al-Yawir as
vice president," he said. "But you need a
particular kind of Sunni participation that will
cut, undermine the insurgency. So you need people
who are close to the insurgency being involved in
the government."
Meanwhile, David
Hartwell, a Middle East expert with the
London-based publication Jane's Sentinel Security
Assessments, says there are additional problems
bedeviling efforts to choose Sunni members for the
cabinet.
He says that while Shi'ite and
Kurdish politicians want to bring Sunnis into the
government, they are reluctant to take on board
those Sunnis who collaborated with the former
regime. Most influential Sunnis, he said, "are the
same influential Sunnis who were around under
Saddam Hussein".
The analyst says that the
Shi'ite majority wants to pursue a
de-Ba'athification campaign and has criticized the
former cabinet for taking former Ba'ath party
members into the government, police, and army. He
says this negative attitude leaves only small
numbers of Sunni politicians, who usually have
little influence, acceptable.
Prime
Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shi'ite, sought to
strike a conciliatory note Tuesday. Addressing
insurgents, he said that Iraqi people "are ready
to forgive you provided you have no blood on your
hands".
But Hartwell says that,
psychologically, it is difficult for Sunnis - who
actually ruled Iraq from the very creation of the
state - to accept the new reality of power being
in the hands of Shi'ites and Kurds.
The
partly formed cabinet sworn in consists of 15
Shi'ites, seven Kurds, four Sunnis, and one
Christian.
The Sunnis hold only 17 seats
in the 275-member National Assembly. That number
of seats underrepresents the Sunni proportion of
Iraq's population, which is estimated at 15 to
20%.
According to Iraq's interim
constitution, Jaafari must make appointments to
the empty posts by May 7. If he fails, he will be
compelled to resign and the president will have to
appoint another prime minister.
Copyright (c) 2005, RFE/RL Inc.
Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW,
Washington DC 20036 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
|
