Several of Iraq’s key leaders have given Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki a 15-day ultimatum

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- Several of Iraq’s key leaders have given Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki a 15-day ultimatum to deliver on a previous power-sharing agreement that was reached in 2010, Rudaw has learned.

The ultimatum came during a meeting of leaders of some of Iraq’s largest political factions in Erbil.

Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani, Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, Muqtada Sadr, the leader of the powerful Shia Sadrist Current, Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and former PM Ayad Allawi attended the meeting on Saturday.

Informed sources told Rudaw that the United States and Iran have voiced their support for the ultimatum.

“The decisions reached in Erbil are the last chance for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki,” Speaker Nujaifi said at the conclusion of the meeting at the residence of President Talabani.

“If Maliki does not implement these demands, we will have to adopt other options vis-a-vis Maliki.”

“This is the last chance for Maliki and it is not acceptable if he does not follow the national partnership. Maliki does not have much time and needs to hurry up.”

Giving a “last chance” to Maliki came at the request of Muqtada Sadr, who was invited to Erbil by Barzani; the Kurds agreed.

For their part, the Kurds criticize Maliki for failing to deliver on an 18-point agreement they made with the prime minister. Without the Kurds’ support, Maliki would have not been able to form the government.

Senior Kurdish officials say they have no problem with Maliki despite recent tensions between the Kurdish government and Baghdad.

Speaking to Rudaw, Aref Tayfoor, the Kurdish deputy speaker of Iraqi Parliament, said Iran has been involved in resolving the disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad.

“Before Sadr’s visit to the Kurdistan Region and Maliki’s visit to Iran, a senior Iranian official visited Baghdad and then Erbil and met with the Kurdish leadership,” said Tayfoor. Iranian officials asked the Kurds to grant Maliki another chance and told Maliki during his recent visit to Tehran to improve relations with the Kurds.

A source privy to the meetings denied some media reports that Sadr carried a message from Iran to the Kurds, saying “Relations between Iran and the Kurds are very good and if Tehran has anything to communicate to them, it would do so directly, not through letters and messages.”

Following the meeting, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told Rudaw that “the outcome of the meeting was very good.”

Absent at the meeting were the State of Law Coalition and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, two of the largest Shia groups in the country. The two factions had received invitations to attend.

Adnan Mufti, a former speaker in Kurdistan’s parliament who attended the meeting, told Rudaw that the Kurds demanded resolution of the outstanding disputes between Baghdad and Erbil as well as further stabilization of the security situation.

“At the meeting, a roadmap was finalized to resolve the issues between Erbil and Baghdad and a timetable has been set for that purpose,” said Mufti.

During a meeting with Kurdish members of Iraqi Parliament, Kurdish President Barzani said the current situation in Iraq “is not our choice. There needs to be a radical solution based on the constitution and other agreements.”

The meeting in Erbil comes as many Iraqis, especially Kurds and Sunni Arabs, are being vocal in their criticism of PM Maliki, accusing him of moving the country toward an authoritarian system.

Barzani was in the US meeting with Biden just a couple of weeks ago. It is interesting that when he got back to Iraq he has become a lot more aggressive in his statements.

I think everyone is at wits end with Maliki and his BS...be interesting to see what happens...

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‘King-maker’ of Iraqi politics in Kurdistan: Maliki awaits his removal
April 28, 2012

Top Iraqi politicians, many of whom feel marginalised by Maliki's style of governing, call in Arbil for greater democracy.



ARBIL (Iraq) - Top Iraqi politicians, many of whom feel marginalised by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's style of governing, called on Saturday in Arbil for greater democracy in running the country.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Massud Barzani, the president of the autonomous Kurdistan region, Iyad Allawi, the head of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, and Sunni parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, held a meeting in Arbil, the capital of Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

Maliki, who was conspicuous by his absence, has been accused by various sides, including Barzani, Iraqiya and Sadr, of consolidating power and moving toward dictatorship in Iraq.

The Iraqi leaders called "to put in place mechanisms that can solve the instability, and for ways to enhance the democratic process and activate the democratic mechanisms in managing the country's affairs and preventing dangers that are targeting" democracy, a statement on the meeting said.

The leaders also discussed "the necessity of looking into solutions to end the (political) crisis, the continuation of which has become a danger to the higher national interests," said the statement which was read by Fuad Hussein, head of the office of the presidency in Kurdistan.

Solutions should be "in accordance with the Arbil agreement, what Moqtada al-Sadr said in his statement, and the constitutional bases that define decision-making and policies," it said, referring to a power-sharing deal on the formation of the current government, and points made by Sadr on Thursday.

The meeting, held in the office of Talabani's party, insisted on serving the people, providing essential services as soon as possible and to meet the urgent demands of the people, the statement added.

Maliki pave the way for his son Ahmed to take over as military

Monday, April 30 / April 2012 09:39

Washington: Network Akhbaralarac - paving the Nuri al-Maliki as a senior military is being handled by his son Ahmed to control any attempts to bring down his father's constitutional or military force. He said the American International Institute for Strategic Studies:

When he finished the U.S. military presence in December of last year, was considered both Baghdad and the United States that Iraq will see a path democratically sustainable, but this remained in doubt, where Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to impose his control on power using the power in the face of his opponents, which of would increase the tension and push the country towards civil war.

In this context, the institute said in a report of some aspects of the use of this force and the most important of which that "after the end of ceremony of departure of U.S. troops from Iraq, the Iraqi force under the command of Ahmed al-Maliki, son of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, surrounded the homes of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, Minister of Finance Rafie al-Issawi and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, and these three are leading members of the coalition in Iraq, to put them under house arrest by the escape of al-Hashemi. "said the report of the American Institute that" these acts of politically motivated nor concrete evidence of the charges put forward against them. "In this context, the report said that "a number of officials, Iraqi politicians, who had warned against what they saw as the ambitions of Maliki's dictatorship, was al-Mutlaq described as worse than Saddam Hussein, was prevented from attending meetings of the prime minister, and Ayad Allawi, has said that the country is sliding back into danger by dictatorship, has poured statements Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani in the same context during his official visit to Washington. "The report noted that" the fears of the ambitions of al-Maliki caused by the non-implementation of agreement Erbil, who spent put clear limits to his authority, by allowing the Iraqi list to appoint political figures in the centers of sensitive, however, has repeatedly rejected the names of proposed candidates, and baptized is to set the characters are weak or linked to it directly and keep the right to control the army and police forces and intelligence services. "The report noted that" Maliki's comments on the management of power in the country has raised around great importance especially as the United States reneged on an agreement Erbil with withdrawal and left the air is free in front of him, and helped him to expand his influence, he put his son Ahmad as deputy chief of staff, which allowed him to carry out a monitoring role for all security services in Iraq, while developed for the Integrity Commission and the Electoral Commission for elections and the World Central under the supervision of the Council of Ministers directly. "Turning the report to" the risk of federalism and the division that surround Iraq due to political crises accumulated, "and pointed out that" an attempt Prime Minister to seize power and the marginalization of the Iraqi List, and his political rivals and his insistence on the instability in the risk of payment Iraq about the civil war again ..