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| Iraq |
| Iraqi court orders parliament to meet amid stalemate |
| 2010-10-25 |
| [Al Arabiya] Iraq's highest court on Sunday ordered parliament to resume its sessions despite a deadlock among pols who have failed to agree on the formation of a government seven months after an inconclusive election. Parliament's temporary speaker, Fouad Massoum, said he expected to set a date for the session within days. "I think that this decision will accelerate the government formation," he told Rooters. The ruling may pressure Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions to speed up efforts to trade horses, but it does not mean an immediate end when parliament reconvenes to an impasse that has stoked tensions just as Iraq emerges from the worst of the war. "When I receive the court's ruling, I will call on all parliamentary blocs to sit down and discuss a date for the session. At the session there should be a consensus among them," Massoum said. The deadlock has mainly pitted incumbent Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against a bloc heavily backed by Iraq's once dominant minority Sunnis. U.S. officials fear any deal that sidelines Sunnis could reinvigorate a weakened but stubborn insurgency that still kills dozens every month. |
| Posted by:Fred |