Sunnis suspend talks with Iraqi government (from Beverley)

Sunnis suspend talks with Iraqi government
Iraq National Accordance Front says government's response was not in line with its demands.
Baghdad, 29 May 2008 (Middle East Online)
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Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc has suspended talks on ending its boycott of the Shiite-led government due to a dispute over which positions it would assume, the head of the bloc said Wednesday.

The decision was a setback to Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki's efforts to bring the Sunnis back into the political fold to shore up recent military gains.

"The talks yielded nothing and the government's response was not in line with our demands so we have decided to suspend them," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, who leads the Sunni National Accordance Front, which holds 44 of 275 parliamentary seats.

The bloc, which comprises three parties, pulled its members out of the 39-member Cabinet in August, saying they were not getting enough say in decision-making.

The prime minister, himself a Shiite, expressed optimism on April 25, saying he expected to be ready to present a new Cabinet list "within a few days."

But Sunni officials said a deal was held up by internal disagreements over who should hold which posts.

Al-Dulaimi complained Wednesday that al-Maliki had refused to let his bloc keep the leadership of the Planning Ministry and offered the Communications Ministry instead.

Iraq's Planning Ministry is considered a key portfolio because it conducts research and studies and implements economic and human development projects in Iraq in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental parties.

It also is of symbolic importance to the Accordance Front because it is currently led by a former member of the bloc who was expelled after he broke ranks over the boycott.

"The Communications Ministry has no value in contrary to the planning one," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We need at least one key portfolio or two service ministries."

The dispute flared as al-Maliki flew to Stockholm, Sweden, for a UN conference aimed at reviewing political and security progress in Iraq.

The prime minister is likely to face renewed pressure at the gathering, which begins Thursday.

When the Accordance Front withdrew from the government, they had five Cabinet posts, plus the vice premiership. But soon afterward, one of the Accordance figures, Ali Baban, agreed to return to his post as planning minister. He was consequently thrown out of the Front as punishment for defying the group's decision to quit.

The only other Sunni in the Cabinet, Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi, is an independent who remained in his post throughout.