Iraqi leaders choose new PM

Jawad al-Maliki

BAGHDAD - Tough-talking Shi'ite Jawad al-Maliki was tasked to form a coalition government yesterday when Iraqi leaders ended four months of political paralysis and vowed to halt sectarian strife and avert any slide to civil war.

"We are going to form a family that will not be based on sectarian or ethnic backgrounds," Maliki said, seeking to shake off a hard-line Shi'ite image and present himself as a man capable of uniting Shi'ite Muslims, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

But in his first policy speech, Maliki called for Iraq's powerful militias to be merged with United States-trained security forces -- an explosive issue in the country because militias are tied to political parties and operate along religious lines.

"Arms should be in the hands of the government. There is a law that calls for the merging of militias with the armed forces," said Maliki, nominated by the ruling Shi'ite Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament after December elections.

The United States hopes a national unity government will foster stability in Iraq and enable it to start bringing home its more than 130,000 troops.

"This is a good day for Iraq. It is an important day for Iraq," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, adding Maliki was someone the United States could work with.

Four US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad on Saturday, the US military said in a statement. A total of 2385 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Maliki, who has 30 days to present his cabinet to parliament, will have to tackle an insurgency that draws support from the minority Sunni community and sectarian bloodshed that has exploded since a February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine.

Sunnis held sway under Saddam's rule but the majority Shi'ites are now the leading force in politics.

The Shi'ite Alliance chose Maliki -- an official in Iraq's oldest Islamist party -- after its original candidate, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, bowed out to end the stalemate. Other parties opposed Jaafari.

US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a driving force in pressing Iraqi politicians to end their differences, urged Maliki to choose strong and competent ministers to unite Iraq.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani formally designated Maliki as prime minister after a breakthrough in negotiations on Friday and asked him to form Iraq's first full-term government since US-led forces ousted Saddam in 2003.

Earlier, parliament re-elected Talabani as president. Talabani, a Kurd, is the first non-Arab president of an Arab country.

Sunni leaders have accused the Shi'ite-run Interior Ministry of condoning death squads targeting Sunnis so there may be a protracted battle over that portfolio. Shi'ites deny the charge.

Maliki, who spent years in exile in Iran and Syria, has pushed for the execution of Sunni insurgents who have killed Iraqis and a purge of former members of Saddam's Baath party from government.

He had been widely viewed as a sectarian politician, but Sunni leaders say they can live with him.

The support of the Sunni leaders is vital because of the support insurgents draw from the minority community.

- REUTERS