Political Reconciliation: Major Sunni Bloc Looks To Rejoin Government
Baghdad, Jan 22, (VOI) – The leader of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) said that his front may soon return to the government, noting that a meeting will take place between the front’s committee and government representatives to discuss disputed issues.
In earlier statements to the International al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, IAF leader Adnan al-Duleimi revealed that his front had formed a committee of its representatives in parliament to negotiate its demands with government officials and bloc leaders.
Al-Duleimi said that the government has shown its goodwill by expressing its willingness to fulfill the front’s demands, citing what he described as real efforts to release detainees from U.S. and Iraqi prisons and to involve the front in the decision-making process.
While highlighting power-sharing as the best way to manage the country’s affairs, the Sunni leader said that Iraq’s ministries of defense, interior and national security should undertake further cooperation and support.
The IAF, the third largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament with 44 out of a total 275 seats, quit the Maliki government in August 2007. Its five ministers, as well as Deputy Premier Sallam al-Zawbaie, have resigned in protest to the government’s “failure to meet the demands submitted by the front.”
The IAF had given the government one week to fulfill its 11-point demands, including a general amnesty for all detainees in U.S. and Iraqi prisons, a consistent commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a halt to raids and attempts to integrate militia into the Iraqi armed forces.
The departure of the IAF, along with the Sadrist movement and the Iraqi National List (INL), from the government has negatively affected the government’s performance and the Iraqi political process.
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Uh, I haven’t heard…Do Pelosi, Murtha, and the bitch Harry Reid approve of this?
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:54 am