Speical Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

    Related: Iraqi parliament ends opening session after 40 minutes

    

Iraqi lawmakers take their oath during the opening session of the new parliament in Baghdad March 16, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

    BAGHDAD, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The Iraqi parliament convened Thursday for the first time under tight security measures after three months of the Dec. 15 general elections.

    The lawmakers gathered in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad as the U.S. and Iraqi security forces deployed in the capital, especially in the mixed Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, to impose a traffic ban. 
    

Shi'ite leader Adbul-Aziz al-Hakim (C) talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani besides Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, (R), before the start of the parliament in Baghdad, March 16, 2006.  (Xinhua)

    The opening session is more likely to be ceremonial rather than a practical meeting as Iraqi politicians are yet to reach an agreement on forming a national unity government. On Wednesday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani hosted a meeting attended by political leaders in his residence in Baghdad to find out a way to break the deadlock, but it failed to produce any tangible result.

    However, Talabani expressed his personal optimism on cabinet formation after the meeting, saying that "by the end of the month we will form a government of national unity and Iraq will be strong and will be free from terrorism." 
     
    Meanwhile, Iraq's outgoing Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafarialso expected the government to be formed within a month but under conditions. 
    

An Iraqi soldier stands guard at a checkpoint after authorities imposed a vehicle ban to prevent violence in Baghdad March 16, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

    "I believe a month is enough to form a government, if we stick to the constitution," Jaafari said on the state-run Iraqiya television.

    However, several other politicians were skeptical, saying that a month is too rosy to expect new government within a month as there are still other issues to be solved.

    "I don't expect to see a new government before May," Hassan al-Shemmary, a Shiite politician told reporters after the meeting. Enditem