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Iraq appoints new ministers but one rejects post
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-08 18:55
Iraq's parliament approved the selection of six new government ministers on
Sunday but the proposed human rights minister rejected the post, leaving Iraq
with an incomplete cabinet three months after elections.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari
smiles as he announces that Iraqi political leaders have agreed who will
fill five vacant cabinet ministries and one of two deputy prime minister's
slots in the new democratically elected government, at his offiice in
Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 7, 2005. [AP] |
| Hisham
al-Shibli told Reuters he had been appointed purely because he was a Sunni Arab
and he was rejecting the new job as human rights minister because he was against
sectarian politics.
"This post was given to me without anyone consulting me. I was
surprised when they nominated me. It was just because I am a Sunni," he said.
"This is something I reject completely. I am a democratic figure...and I am
completely against sectarianism."
Earlier, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Shibli was among six
ministers approved by parliament to fill vacant posts.
Jaafari told a news conference that Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab,
had been named defence minister and Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a Shi'ite, was the
new oil minister.
Osama al-Jughaifi, a Sunni, was named industry minister, and Mohsen
Shalash, a Shi'ite, was appointed electricity minister.
Jaafari also appointed a Sunni Arab deputy prime minister, Abed Mutlak
al-Jibouri, to join Shi'ite and Kurdish deputy prime ministers who have already
been sworn in.
Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein, were
sidelined in the Jan. 30 elections, winning only 17 of parliament's 275 seats as
most Sunni Arabs stayed away from the polls due to calls for a boycott and fears
of violence.
The Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs that dominate parliament had hoped to
involve Sunni Arabs in the political process by appointing several to the new
cabinet.
Disagreements over which Sunni Arabs to choose delayed the formation
of a full cabinet, and Shibli's rejection of his post means that delay will be
even longer.
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