Iraq parties gridlocked over terms

[ECH1969]

BAGHDAD – Iraq's national assembly has not met yet, but fighting between the two biggest parties has halted the formation of a government, exacerbating ethnic tensions and testing Iraqis' faith in their fledgling democracy.

This weekend, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a group of religious Shiites that won 51 percent of assembly seats, and the Kurds, who won 27 percent, failed to form a coalition. Without an agreement, observers expect US-backed Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to fill his role indefinitely, according to the interim constitution which governs the process.

"I think the assembly will meet on the 16th but ... talks about forming a government will be postponed and Allawi will stay as prime minister until" they can meet and make an agreement, says an official from the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a leading UIA group.

Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), insisted Sunday in talks with the Shiites that the Kurds won't join a coalition until Kirkuk is ceded to the Kurds, a greater cut of national revenue is given to the northern Kurdish regions, and the pesh merga are allowed to stay in the north.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0315/p01s02-woiq.html