Religious holiday will cause political blocs to postpone talks to next week
June 27, 2011
Crisis talks delayed due to religious ceremony
Erbil, June 27 (AKnews) – A meeting for the leaders of the political blocs planned to be held at Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has been postponed to next week due to it coinciding with a Shia religious ceremony.
Mohsen Sadoun, a Kurdish MP, told AKnews that the mourning of the death Imam Kadhim, a Shia religious figure, caused the delay of the meetings that were expected to be held this week. Many of Baghdad’s streets have been shut due to security fears around the event.
The talks are aimed at ending the disagreements over the implementation of the Erbil agreement which allowed Nouri al-Maliki to form a government despite winning fewer seats than al-Iraqiya.
The accord made provisions for the creation of a new executive post, head of the National Council for Strategic policies, for al-Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi. But disagreements about the powers of the position have stalled its creation and the resulting crisis has deepened.
The row over allocation of positions in the defense, interior and national security ministries has also been unresolved for six months, with disagreement over who should take up the prominent roles.
Talabani called a similar meeting last week to reconcile the views of the feuding leaders. That meeting resulted in a number of decisions including a pledge to put an end to a tit-for-tat media campaign, despite the non-attendance of al-Iraqiya leader, Ayad Allawi.
June 27, 2011
Crisis talks delayed due to religious ceremony
Erbil, June 27 (AKnews) – A meeting for the leaders of the political blocs planned to be held at Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has been postponed to next week due to it coinciding with a Shia religious ceremony.
Mohsen Sadoun, a Kurdish MP, told AKnews that the mourning of the death Imam Kadhim, a Shia religious figure, caused the delay of the meetings that were expected to be held this week. Many of Baghdad’s streets have been shut due to security fears around the event.
The talks are aimed at ending the disagreements over the implementation of the Erbil agreement which allowed Nouri al-Maliki to form a government despite winning fewer seats than al-Iraqiya.
The accord made provisions for the creation of a new executive post, head of the National Council for Strategic policies, for al-Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi. But disagreements about the powers of the position have stalled its creation and the resulting crisis has deepened.
The row over allocation of positions in the defense, interior and national security ministries has also been unresolved for six months, with disagreement over who should take up the prominent roles.
Talabani called a similar meeting last week to reconcile the views of the feuding leaders. That meeting resulted in a number of decisions including a pledge to put an end to a tit-for-tat media campaign, despite the non-attendance of al-Iraqiya leader, Ayad Allawi.