Iraqi government sworn in

Iraq: Iraq's first elected government in nearly half a century took office yesterday at a ceremony in the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.

Prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari, two deputies and 24 ministers stepped up to the lectern one by one and swore to uphold the constitution and protect the Iraqi people.

There were no clerics in turbans among the men and only one of the four women who took the oath wore a headscarf. When complete, the cabinet will have 31 ministers and four deputy prime ministers as well as a premier.

The event failed to meet Iraqi and allied expectations on two counts.

First, seven senior posts left vacant when the line-up was announced a week ago remain in the hands of caretakers. In spite of intensive negotiations which went on until the moment Dr Jaafari and his colleagues took their seats on the stage in the assembly chamber, he was unable to appoint two deputy premiers and provide acceptable appointees for the ministries of defence, oil, electricity, industry, and human rights.

Second, three ministers whose names were on the approved list did not appear at the ceremony to take the oath of office.

To add confusion to consternation, there were unconfirmed reports that Muhammad Bahr Uloom has been given the oil portfolio. Mr Uloom, son of an influential Shia cleric, served in this position in the first cabinet. Oil experts have expressed scepticism about his competence for the job.

Since a deputy premiership and the defence portfolio are meant to go to Sunnis, vice president Ghazi Yawar, a Sunni, boycotted the event to protest Dr Jaafari's failure to curb disputes within his own camp, the Shia United Iraqi Alliance, which created the deadlock.

The month-long wrangle has exposed the rifts and weaknesses of the system of governance fashioned by US chief administrator Paul Bremer in 2003. He made appointments to a governing council and two cabinets on the basis of sectarian and ethnic affiliation rather than expertise or popularity. The January 30th election produced a 275-seat parliament divided by communal coalitions. It is dominated by Shias, who make up 60 per cent of the populace, with 148 seats, and Kurds, 15 per cent, with 77 seats.

Sunnis, at 20 per cent, have only 17 seats because of violence in the three Sunni majority provinces and a boycott of the poll by Sunni leaders.

To redress the lack of Sunni representation and encourage moderate Sunnis to support the government, the Shia grand ayatollah and Kurdish leaders urged Shias to give Sunnis a fair share of cabinet posts. It was also argued that a Sunni military man would be effective in defence, where he would have to tackle the Sunni insurgency.

At least four candidates for this post were put to Shia deputies who vetoed them on grounds they had connections with the ousted Baath party.

The selection of a Sunni deputy premier has been held up for the same reason. Shias exercising the veto belong to the pro-Iranian faction of the Shia Alliance, which includes the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and some elements of Dr Jaafari's Islamic Dawa party.

According to Iraq's interim constitution, Dr Jaafari must make appointments to the empty posts by May 7th. If he fails, he will be compelled to resign and President Jalal Talabani will have to ask someone else to form a government.