KurdistanObserver.com

Talabani: Kurds Rejection Of al-Jaafari "Final"

April 10, 2006/  Euro News

It is decision day for Iraq's Shi'ite Alliance, faced with Sunni and Kurdish opposition to their man for the prime minister's job. President Jalal Talabani has told an Alliance committee that the Kurdish Bloc's rejection of Ibrahim al-Jaafari is final. The committee meets this morning to decide how the political deadlock of the last four months can be ended, and who can create the unity government.

Al-Jaafari is accused of monopolising power and failing to improve security, and also has his critics within the Shi'ite alliance. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's weekend comments continue to find an echo among Iraq's Sunnis. He accused Shi'ites in Arab states of being more loyal to Iran than their own countries, a comment that drew fierce criticism from all Iraqi political leaders, keen to promote unity.

However the conflict in Iraq has been more sectarian since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine, and more intense. The death toll from the triple car bombing of a Shi'ite mosque on Friday is now nearly 100, the worst attack of the year, and on Sunday families were still burying their dead as the survivors fought for their lives in hospital.

Sunday was also the third anniversary of "Freedom Day", or the fall of Baghdad. Heavy security could not prevent a minibus bomb near the university, and a bomb attack on a police car.