Reuters, Baghdad :
Iraq’s new parliament put off its next session for five weeks on Monday, extending the country’s political paralysis amid a Sunni Islamist insurgency that claimed the life of an army general near Baghdad.
Citing the politicians’ failure to reach “understanding and agreement” on nominations for the top three posts in government, the office of acting speaker Mehdi al-Hafidh said parliament would not meet again until Aug. 12.
Putting off the work of reaching consensus is a slap in the face to efforts by Iraq’s Shi’ite clergy, the United States, the United Nations and Iran, who have all urged the swift formation of an inclusive government to hold the country together.
“We’re looking at a dire situation on the ground, which is why it’s so important that things move forward urgently on the ground,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington in reaction to the delay.
With no signs that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will abandon his bid for a third term, his Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish opponents warn there is a risk that Iraq will fragment along ethnic and sectarian lines.
“Things are moving faster than the politicians can make decisions,” a senior Shi’ite member of parliament told Reuters.
The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot, and a patchwork of Sunni insurgents are holding territory they seized in northern and western Iraq, the majority of it taken last month. Kurds, who run their own autonomous region in northern Iraq, have taken advantage of the chaos to expand their territory.
Maliki’s opponents blame him for last month’s defeats and want him to step aside. They accuse him of favouring the Shi’ite majority over the Sunni and Kurdish minorities.
Some hopes remained that parliament would meet again this month, based on local press comments by Hafidh and other comments by a senior US official.
Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq, said on his Twitter feed that Hafidh had clarified that the new date for parliament to resume work was July 13. But parliament would still be required to issue a formal statement to change the date.
Iraq’s new parliament put off its next session for five weeks on Monday, extending the country’s political paralysis amid a Sunni Islamist insurgency that claimed the life of an army general near Baghdad.
Citing the politicians’ failure to reach “understanding and agreement” on nominations for the top three posts in government, the office of acting speaker Mehdi al-Hafidh said parliament would not meet again until Aug. 12.
Putting off the work of reaching consensus is a slap in the face to efforts by Iraq’s Shi’ite clergy, the United States, the United Nations and Iran, who have all urged the swift formation of an inclusive government to hold the country together.
“We’re looking at a dire situation on the ground, which is why it’s so important that things move forward urgently on the ground,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington in reaction to the delay.
With no signs that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will abandon his bid for a third term, his Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish opponents warn there is a risk that Iraq will fragment along ethnic and sectarian lines.
“Things are moving faster than the politicians can make decisions,” a senior Shi’ite member of parliament told Reuters.
The Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot, and a patchwork of Sunni insurgents are holding territory they seized in northern and western Iraq, the majority of it taken last month. Kurds, who run their own autonomous region in northern Iraq, have taken advantage of the chaos to expand their territory.
Maliki’s opponents blame him for last month’s defeats and want him to step aside. They accuse him of favouring the Shi’ite majority over the Sunni and Kurdish minorities.
Some hopes remained that parliament would meet again this month, based on local press comments by Hafidh and other comments by a senior US official.
Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq, said on his Twitter feed that Hafidh had clarified that the new date for parliament to resume work was July 13. But parliament would still be required to issue a formal statement to change the date.
