Abadi Forms New Iraq Cabinet Seeking Unity Against Militants

Abadi Forms New Iraq Cabinet Seeking Unity Against Militants


09/08/20140 



New Iraqi premier Haidar al-Abadi speaks during a press conference ahead of the... 
Iraq’s parliament approved Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s new government, which aims to unite the country against Islamic State militants as the Iraqi army backed by U.S. air power seeks to roll back their advance. Abadi named former Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi as oil minister and Rouz Nouri Shawis, a Kurd, as finance minister, according to state television, which showed legislators approving the appointments. The premier announced his government’s program, pledging to rebuild the army, boost the powers of local government, and combat corruption. The new administration takes office in OPEC’s second-largest oil producer with swaths of the country under the control of fighters from Islamic State. The group’s lightning advance since June shattered confidence in the previous premier, Nouri al-Maliki. Abadi vowed last month to build a government representing all of Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups, after Maliki was blamed for favoring his own Shiite Muslim community, fueling sectarian tensions that led some Iraqi Sunnis to welcome the arrival of the militants. U.S. President Barack Obama, who pressured Maliki to step down, has made it clear that U.S. military support against Islamic State is conditional on Iraq establishing a more inclusive central government.

Kurdish and Iraqi forces backed by U.S. airstrikes have regained some territory lost to the jihadists since June. The U.S. expanded its air offensive in Iraq this month, conducting strikes for the first time in the western part of the country to protect the Haditha Dam, after similar operations helped pave the way for the recapture of the Mosul Dam.
Kurdish Support

Outgoing premier Maliki was named as one of three vice presidents approved by parliament today. The interior and defense ministers’ positions weren’t filled permanently and will be run on acting basis, said Abadi, whose program received 177 votes in the 325-member assembly.

Ahead of the vote, Abadi told parliament that he would empower local governments and make the country’s administration less political. He said the government would provide weapons to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters from the semi-autonomous northern region.

Kurdish support for Abadi’s new coalition has been the subject of tense talks in recent days. Efforts to ease Iraq’s sectarian rifts were also set back last month when gunmen killed scores of worshipers at a Sunni mosque in a province neighboring Baghdad, leading Sunni politicians to withdraw from talks with Abadi.



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