Dubai: Iraq’s new prime minister-designate yesterday urged Iraqis to unite to face dangerous challenges, including terrorism, a day after embattled prime minister Nouri Al Maliki announced he is stepping down.
Haider Al Abadi said his new Cabinet will be based on “efficiency and integrity, to salvage the country from security, political and economic problems.”
Al Abadi faces the daunting task of pacifying the vast western province of Anbar, where Sunni frustrations with the sectarian policies of Al Maliki have pushed some to join an insurgency led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) militants.
Tribal leaders and clerics from Iraq’s Sunni heartland said they would be willing under certain conditions to join a new government. The Sunni minority made its offer after Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, threw his weight behind Al Abadi. The tribal leaders and clerics said Sunni representatives in Anbar and other provinces have drawn up a list of demands to be delivered to Al Abadi through politicians, their spokesman Taha Mohammed Al Hamdoon told Reuters.
He called for government troops and Shiite militia forces to suspend their attacks in Anbar to allow for talks. Separately, one of Anbar’s most powerful tribal leaders, with thousands of men at his command, said on television he was ready to work with Al Abadi, if he respected Sunni interests.
Ali Hatem Sulaiman, a leading figure in an earlier alliance with US and Iraqi forces against Al Qaida, said he could consider joining a new campaign against Isil.
Al Sistani, spiritual leader of the Shiite majority, said earlier that the handover to Al Abadi offered a rare opportunity to resolve political and security crises.
Also yesterday, EU ministers agreed to back the arming of beleaguered Iraqi Kurd fighters by key member states, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after three hours of talks.
“We have found a common position, the sprit of which says the EU commends the fact that certain countries have responded favourably to the request made by Kurdish Iraqi forces,” Steinmeier said.
“It is not clear what equipment will be used and is necessary,” the minister added.
A diplomat said the agreement was “strong and sends the desired political message”.
