Iraq’s President Joins Coalition Seeking to Oust Prime Minister

Iraq’s Kurdish president said Saturday that he had joined Sunni Arab and secular politicians in trying to block interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari from a second term because the Shiite leader had become a divisive figure.

President Jalal Talabani’s remarks were his first explanation for Wednesday’s move against Jafari by the Kurdish Alliance, Sunni Arab National Accordance Front and the secular Iraqi National List.

“I want to be clear, it is not against Dr. Jafari as a person. He has been my friend for 25 years. What we want is consensus,” Talabani said.

Sunnis and Kurdish politicians “want to be real partners in the coming government and not ministers without opinion. They want Iraq to be ruled through a partnership where everyone participates,” the president said.

Later Saturday, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest political group in the Shiite bloc, issued a statement saying it was open to negotiations on who will become prime minister in the new government.

The group’s central committee “will keep the door open to all serious dialogue aiming to chose a candidate for the prime minister post,” the statement said. “The interest of the country and Iraqi people is the top priority.”

The move against Jafari has opened a political battle that further complicates efforts to form a national unity government after December parliamentary elections in which the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance won the largest bloc of seats in the 275-member parliament, giving it the right to name the prime minister.

The delay in setting up a strong government calls into question hopes among U.S. commanders and the Bush administration to begin drawing down troop levels this summer.

Wrapping up a two-day trip to Iraq, the head of the U.S. military Central Command expressed concern about the lag in forming a broad-based governing coalition that includes all the major communities.

“Too many delays in the formation of a national unity government will negatively affect the security situation,” said Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, who met separately with Talabani and Jafari.

Many Iraqis, primarily Sunnis, complain that Jafari failed to rein in Shiite militiamen who swarmed out of Baghdad’s Sadr City slum Feb. 22 to attack Sunni mosques and clerics in response to the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

Sunnis also accuse Jafari of not controlling the Shiite-led Interior Ministry, whose forces allegedly committed widespread abuses. Kurds are angry at Jafari because they believe he is holding up resolution of their claim to the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

An official close to the Kurdish leadership said Saturday that Talabani’s anger arose from Jafari’s recent visit to Turkey.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the political negotiations are so sensitive, said Talabani had learned Jafari promised the Turkish government to oppose the inclusion of Kirkuk in the proposed Kurdish federal region in northern Iraq.

The Turks, who fear greater Kurdish autonomy in Iraq could inspire Turkish Kurds to seek their own homeland, reportedly promised to help Jafari improve relations with the United States.