BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's new government is finally taking shape and could be unveiled this week, negotiators said on Tuesday, signalling a compromise among sectarian and ethnic factions to rally behind Shi'ite strongman Nuri al-Maliki.Senior negotiators from most groups involved in efforts to form a national unity government told Reuters Maliki could name his cabinet as early as Thursday, before the Muslim weekend and four days ahead of a constitutional deadline set a month ago. "The government is in its final form now. Maliki will absolutely meet the constitutional deadline and will announce the government before it," said Dhafir al-Ani, spokesman of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, the Iraqi Accordance Front. "Nobody wants him to fail. Even those who oppose the political process will not put up obstacles."
A senior Shi'ite negotiator said: "The government will be ready soon ... I mean probably in the next 48 hours."
All played down the significance of a widely leaked list indicating which party would take which ministry, saying there were still disputes, notably on the health ministry. Many names are still in play for key posts, including interior minister. One surprise could be the nomination of controversial former exile Ahmad Chalabi to that vital security job, several sources said. The much-criticised interior minister may go to finance.
| Good lord, Chabbers rises from the dead again. He's got more lives than Rasputin, and a worse reputation. |
He has faced some of his toughest opposition within his own Alliance bloc. One party in the Shi'ite coalition walked out of the negotiations in protest at losing the oil ministry. It is now widely expected to go to another Alliance figure, former nuclear physicist and dissident Hussain al-Shahristani. Similarly, followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Mehdi Army, are making veiled threats of a walkout if they do not retain the health ministry, promised to the Sunnis.
Some officials said it was still possible Maliki may leave sensitive posts such as interior and defence vacant if he cannot resolve disputes this week. The former is expected to go to a Shi'ite and the latter to a Sunni -- but both, not least due to heavy U.S. pressure -- are subject to a veto by every party.
Chalabi, a wealthy, U.S.-educated businessman turned secular Shi'ite power broker on his return home, has emerged as a possible interior minister, sources from several parties said. Though the outgoing deputy prime minister failed to win a seat in December and has long lost his pre-war clout with the Pentagon, he has won respect for his handling of Iraq's battered economy in the past year and is a consummate political survivor.