Thursday, April 27, 2006

Iraq leader hopes to form government in a week

Surprisingly good news if it pans out.

BAGHDAD - Prime Minister-designate Nuri Al Maliki said on Thursday he hoped to form a government within a week after meeting Washington’s top defence and foreign affairs officials and two of Iraq’s most powerful clerics.

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld flew out, Maliki pledged to fill the key posts of interior and defence ministers with non-sectarian appointees.

Maliki has 30 days from last Saturday to present his cabinet to parliament for approval but has said he wants to move faster on creating a grand coalition of majority Shi’ite Muslims, Sunni Arabs and Kurds to combat the violence wracking the country.

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