Iraqi assembly descends into chaos
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...447551,00.html
James Sturcke and agencies
Tuesday March 29, 2005
The meeting of Iraq's national assembly descended into chaos today as politicians failed to agree on a candidate for speaker.
Amid acrimonious scenes, the new governing body convened briefly, for only the second time since national elections in January, and admitted defeat in its efforts to nominate a Sunni candidate for the role.
The bickering exposed tensions in the newly formed parliament, with the outgoing interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, storming out of the session, followed by the interim president, Gazi al-Yawar
"What are we going to tell the citizens who sacrificed their lives and cast ballots on January 30?" asked Hussein al-Sadr, a Shia cleric and member Mr Allawi's coalition.
The start of the session was delayed by nearly three hours as talks to fill the position continued. Once it began, politicians immediately began arguing over whether to delay their decision, and the leader of the session decided to banish reporters and cameras and take negotiations behind closed doors.
"We demand to know the details of what's happening behind the scenes!" one woman shouted before television feeds went blank.
"You can say we are in a crisis," Barham Salih, a leading Kurdish politician, told reporters.
The United Iraq Alliance and the Kurdish coalition, which came first and second respectively in the January elections, want to form a government that includes the Sunnis and members of Mr Allawi's coalition.
Bringing Sunnis into the new government is seen by many politicians as crucial in calming the violent Sunni-led bomb attacks and killings that have become common.
The national assembly is now expected to meet again on Saturday.
Alliance negotiator Ali al-Dabagh attempted to play down the setback, saying: "The choice remains in the hands of the assembly."
He added that the alliance was considering the nomination of a Sunni from its coalition, Sheik Fawaz al-Jarba, a proposal that caused some Sunnis to accuse the alliance of trying to impose their own members.
Under Saddam Hussein, the minority Sunnis dominated all levels of government. Critics of the process say the Sunni candidates being discussed for government posts have no influence on the insurgency and their participation is unlikely to affect it.
A series of explosions were heard in Baghdad today, but it was unclear if they caused any damage. Officials had warned residents to prepare for insurgents to step up their attacks. During the first national assembly meeting on March 16 militants lobbed mortar rounds at the heavily fortified green zone in the city's centre, where the politicians were gathered.
Violence also continued in the rest of the country, with a car bombing in the northern city of Kirkuk killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others, police said.
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