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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Cleric Endorses Al-Jaafari PM Nomination |
| 2005-02-25 |
| NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - United Iraqi Alliance candidate Ibrahim al-Jaafari said Friday that Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has endorsed his nomination for prime minister. The endorsement from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani came after members of the clergy-backed alliance openly questioned its decision Tuesday to nominate the 58-year-old leader of the conservative Islamic Dawa Party as its candidate for prime minister following Iraq's Jan. 30 elections. "Ayatollah al-Sistani blessed the decision taken by the alliance about the prime minister post. He respects and supports what the alliance have decided," al-Jaafari told reporters after meeting with the Iranian-born cleric for more than two hours in the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf. He also said Iraq's Sunni Arab minority should be brought into the political process and help draft the country's first constitution. Bringing the Sunnis into the political process could help deflate the insurgency. Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population, dominated Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and largely boycotted the elections. They are believed to make up the core of the insurgency. "Ayatollah al-Sistani also advised to take into consideration the uniqueness of Iraqi issue making it impossible not to integrate other sects and to integrate the Sunni people who were not able to participate in the elections," al-Jaafari said. But in a move that could rile Kurds, al-Jaafari said that a dispute over the northern city of Kirkuk should be postponed until after the new constitution is drafted. A constitution must be drafted no later than Aug. 15. "Such a sensitive issue should not be discussed under the interim government and should be discussed when we have stability, when there is a parliament and a permanent constitution," al-Jaafari said. Kurdish leaders have demanded constitutional guarantees for their northern regions, including self-rule in the north and reversal of the "Arabization" of Kirkuk and other northern regions. Saddam had relocated Iraqi Arabs to the region in a bid to secure control of the oil fields there. They also want one of their leaders, Jalal Talabani, to be nominated for the post of president. |
| Posted by:Steve |