Iraq lawmakers give PM until Thursday to reshuffle cabinet

Baghdad: Iraq’s parliament gave embattled Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi until Thursday to present a cabinet of technocrats as Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr expanded his protest movement for reform.

Al Sadr himself spent the night camping in the Green Zone while thousands of his supporters continued a 10-day-old sit-in outside the gates of the fortified area in central Baghdad.

Al Sadr met Al Abadi on Sunday night after beginning a sit-in in the Green Zone.

Earlier in the day security forces stepped aside to allow Al Sadr to enter the Green Zone after weeks of protests in the Iraqi capital. “I am a representative of the people and will enter the [Green Zone],” Al Sadr told hundreds of his supporters gathered outside the compound’s walls, asking his followers to stay outside and remain peaceful.

As Al Sadr walked through a checkpoint to enter the Green Zone, officials in charge of the compound’s security greeted the cleric with kisses and provided him with a chair. Al Sadr was accompanied by his personal security detail and the leader of his Shiite militia, Sarayat Al Salam. After he began his sit-in, Al Sadr’s supporters started erecting tents and laying down mattresses.

“Parliament is the legitimate representative of the people and it declared that Thursday is the final deadline for the government to present a new ministerial line-up,” a statement from the speaker’s office said on Monday.

Sources in parliament said that 170 lawmakers out of 245 present voted in favour of the deadline.

“If Al Abadi fails to present his new cabinet, he must be present in parliament on Saturday to explain why,” said Haidar Al Mutlaq, an MP from the State of Law bloc.

Al Abadi has promised to reshuffle the government by replacing party-affiliated ministers with technocrats, a move meant to help tackle corruption and Iraq’s massive budget crunch.

The premier has faced resistance from ministers within his own Shiite bloc who are reluctant to give up their positions and attendant privileges.

Al Abadi already faces pressure from the street in the shape of the sit-in by Al Sadr’s supporters at the gates of the Green Zone, which is home to his office, parliament and several large Western embassies.

Al Sadr had warned that his supporters would storm the Green Zone if Abadi failed to present a line-up of technocrats.

But buying Al Abadi a little more time, Al Sadr entered the Green Zone alone on Sunday, asking his supporters to remain outside the perimeter.

The Sadrist movement also staged protests in the holy city of Najaf, where Al Sadr is usually based, as well as in Basra, Hilla and Kut.

Earlier this month, Iraqi security forces manning checkpoints in Baghdad again stepped aside to allow Al Sadr’s supporters to march up to the Green Zone’s outer walls to begin a sit-in, despite a government order deeming the gathering “unauthorised”. The move called into question Al Abadi’s ability to control security in the capital.

“I thank the security forces,” Al Sadr said before beginning his sit-in. “He who attacks them, attacks me,” he added.

While Al Abadi proposed a reform package last August, few of his plans have been implemented as the leader has made several political missteps and struggled with the country’s increasingly sectarian politics amid the ongoing fight against Daesh.