Sunnis asked to reconsider decision to quit Cabinet

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi prime minister’s party asked the country’s largest Sunni Arab bloc yesterday to reconsider its withdrawal from government, in a last-ditch effort to restore Iraq’s national unity government.

All six Cabinet ministers from the Iraqi Accordance Front quit Nouri al-Maliki’s regime a day earlier, to protest what they called the prime minister’s failure to respond to a set of demands. Among them: the release of security detainees not charged with specific crimes, the disbanding of militias and the participation of all groups represented in the government in dealing with security issues.Their resignation left only two Sunnis in the 40-member Cabinet, undermining al-Maliki’s efforts to pull together rival factions and pass reconciliation laws the US considers benchmarks toward healing the country’s deep war wounds.Al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party issued a statement yesterday calling on the Accordance Front to “reconsider its decision.””The party expresses its concern and regret about this setback for Iraqi politics, an action taken before exploring any dialogue,” the statement said.”We need to stand side by side as a national unity government and set aside all differences and cooperate, in order to answer the challenges our people are suffering,” it said.But an Accordance Front lawmaker, reacting to the Dawa statement, said yesterday that the bloc would reconsider its withdrawal only if promised “the priority of real partnership.””If we were assured by tangible and concrete promises of real change…and the priority of real partnership, we would reconsider our stance,” Salim Abdullah, a Sunni parliament member, told The Associated Press.But he added that he was not optimistic such assurances would come from al-Maliki.Also yesterday, the US military announced three more soldier deaths: two killed in a mortar or rocket attack Tuesday, and another killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday.It brought to at least 3 659 the number of US military personnel who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.The figure includes seven military civilians.Nampa-APAmong them: the release of security detainees not charged with specific crimes, the disbanding of militias and the participation of all groups represented in the government in dealing with security issues.Their resignation left only two Sunnis in the 40-member Cabinet, undermining al-Maliki’s efforts to pull together rival factions and pass reconciliation laws the US considers benchmarks toward healing the country’s deep war wounds.Al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party issued a statement yesterday calling on the Accordance Front to “reconsider its decision.””The party expresses its concern and regret about this setback for Iraqi politics, an action taken before exploring any dialogue,” the statement said.”We need to stand side by side as a national unity government and set aside all differences and cooperate, in order to answer the challenges our people are suffering,” it said.But an Accordance Front lawmaker, reacting to the Dawa statement, said yesterday that the bloc would reconsider its withdrawal only if promised “the priority of real partnership.””If we were assured by tangible and concrete promises of real change…and the priority of real partnership, we would reconsider our stance,” Salim Abdullah, a Sunni parliament member, told The Associated Press.But he added that he was not optimistic such assurances would come from al-Maliki.Also yesterday, the US military announced three more soldier deaths: two killed in a mortar or rocket attack Tuesday, and another killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday.It brought to at least 3 659 the number of US military personnel who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.The figure includes seven military civilians.Nampa-AP