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Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq
BAGHDAD, May 20 (Xinhua by Jamal Hashim, Ran
Wei ) -- The Iraqi parliament approved the new cabinet headed by Shiite Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki at a special session held in Baghdad on Saturday while
violence continued with 24 people killed across the country.
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| Iraq's new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
(L) presents his government to the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad, May 20,
2006. (Xinhua/AFP) | The lawmakers raised their
hands to show approval to the new ministers when parliament speaker Mahmoud
al-Mashhadani read out their names one by one.
The 37-member cabinet was finally approved by the
parliament while three key posts-- interior, defense and national security
affairs, remained unfilled.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, will be the acting interior
minister temporarily while Salam al-Zigum Al-Zoubaie, new Sunni deputy prime
minister, and Barham Salih, Kurdish deputy prime minister,were assigned the
acting defense minister and the acting minister for the national security
affairs respectively.
In his first speech as prime minister, al-Maliki outlined
his governing program, including the formation of the national unity government
with representatives of all Iraqi sects according to the December election
results and national interests.
He also pledged to open a national dialogue and widen
political participation within the framework of the constitution in a bid to
build a free and democratic Iraq.
On the economic front, al-Maliki promised to draw a
comprehensive plan for Iraq's reconstruction and development,which is to pay
special attention to underdeveloped areas and basic public services including
electricity supplies.
The plan will also encourage investment and help attract
national and international capital into the country's development and
reconstruction.
The new prime minister also vowed to regulate the key
oil and gas industries by new legislation.
In addition, al-Maliki said that he would resort to a
regional referendum to determine whether the key oil-rich northern city of
Kirkuk should go to the Kurdish regional government or remain under control of
the central government.
Meanwhile, he said that he would set "an objective
timetable to let Iraqi forces take the full security responsibilities to end the
mission of the U.S.-led multinational forces."The new cabinet came into being
after almost five months of bargaining among Iraqi Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish
leaders after the country's election in December 2005.
It is the first full-term government in Iraq after
the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 ousted former president Saddam Hussein.
While the new government was formally sworn in by
parliament,violence continued across the country, underlining the tough security
challenge the cabinet will have to face.
On Saturday morning, a makeshift bomb went off in
Baghdad's Shiite-dominated Sadr City neighborhood, killing 19 people and
wounding 58 others, an Interior Ministry source said.
"A homemade explosive charge detonated at about 7:00 a.m.
(0300GMT) among a crowd of construction workers, who gathered to be hired for
daily work, in Baghdad's Sadr City slum," the source told Xinhua on condition of
anonymity.
In the western province of Anbar, a suicide bomber
wearing an explosive belt blew himself up on Saturday inside a police stationin
Qaim town near the Syrian border, a police source said.
The attack killed five policemen and wounded 10 others,
the source added.
Besides the task to stem out violence, the new Iraqi government will also tackle a number of other difficulties including a battered economy. Enditem
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