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Iraqi PM set to unveil cabinet with vacancies
Iraqi prime minister designate Nuri al-Maliki is poised to unveil a cabinet with the key defence and interior ministries left vacant, a prominent member of his Shia alliance said Sunday. Maliki will keep the sensitive portfolios in his own hands for the time being after more than four months of coalition talks failed to produce agreement on nominees, said Bahaa al-Aaraji, an MP close to Shia radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr. "I think prime minister Nuri al-Maliki will announce the government without interior and Defence," Aaraji told reporters on the sidelines of a parliamentary session. "He will be the acting minister of interior and Defence and then, maybe after two or three weeks, he will appoint the appropriate people for these jobs."An MP from Maliki's own Dawa party, Hassan al-Seniad, had already raised the possibility of the premier designate retaining some portfolios in his own hands as he bids to finalise a cabinet line-up in the next 48 hours. Posted by: Fred 2006-05-15 |
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