Iraq government hits snag
The announcement of the new Iraqi government will be further delayed, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said.
Talabani told Turkey‘s CNN-Turk channel in an interview on Thursday that negotiations on the makeup of the government were continuing.
He said the stress was on the need for a consensus on the right of all communities in Iraq to be represented in the administration.
“I think the government will not be announced today [Thursday], because there are still some differences,” Talabani told CNN-Turk.
Talks continuing
“The negotiations are continuing,” he said. “We want to see the Sunni Arabs in the cabinet. We want to see a national unity government.”
Talabani said talks were continuing between the future government partners on the allocation of some cabinet posts.
The Iraqi leader on Wednesday said that Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jafari would announce the cabinet line up on Thursday, more than 11 weeks after general elections in January.