Reuters AlertNet Lite - Sadr ministers quit Iraqi govt over U.S. troops

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Sadr ministers quit Iraqi govt over U.S. troops

16 Apr 2007 13:21:43 GMT
Source: Reuters

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Resigning Sadrist Minister Saeed Al-Hashimi waves as he leaves a news conference in Baghdad April 16, 2007. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his ministers to quit Iraq's government on Monday in protest at Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw.
REUTERS/POOL, STF

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(Adds Maliki paragraphs 9-10)

By Waleed Ibrahim and Yara Bayoumy

BAGHDAD, April 16 (Reuters) - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his ministers to quit Iraq's government on Monday in protest at Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's refusal to set a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw.

Sadr's populist movement, which draws its support mainly from Iraq's Shi'ite poor, holds six ministries and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Maliki's fractious Shi'ite Alliance, a coalition of Shi'ite Islamist parties.

The move exposes cracks in the alliance, which has sought to present a united front despite tensions below the surface, but it is unlikely to significantly weaken the government since Sadrists do not hold key cabinet posts.

While Sadr's support was vital to Maliki taking office, the involvement of his Mehdi Army militia in sectarian violence made his bloc's presence in the government a political liability.

At the same there will be concerns about ensuring Sadr's continued support for the U.S.-backed crackdown in Baghdad. His Mehdi Army, which Washington calls the biggest threat to Iraq's security, has kept a low profile so far during the offensive.

The Sadrists accused Maliki of "ignoring the will of the people" over the timetable issue and also of failing to improve basic services and of not curbing deteriorating security. Baghdad's Sadr City slum is the cleric's main powerbase.

"The prime minister has to express the will of the Iraqi people. They went out in a demonstration in their millions asking for a timetable for withdrawal," the head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, Nassar al-Rubaie, told a news conference.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis answered a call by Sadr to rally in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf last week to protest against the presence of more than 140,000 U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Sadr himself did not appear -- U.S. officials say he is in hiding in Iran, while his aides say he is still in Iraq.

Maliki accepted the Sadrists' decision to quit and reiterated that U.S. troops would leave only when Iraqi forces could take over security.

"Maliki welcomes Moqtada's announcement to give him the responsibility of handing the six ministries (...) to qualified people and not based on their sectarian affiliation," Maliki's office said in a statement.

SEEN AS POSITIVE

A senior adviser to Maliki also sought to portray the pullout in a postive light, noting the bloc was keeping its 30 seats in parliament.

"Withdrawal of the multi-national forces is not an issue of disagreement between Maliki and the bloc," the adviser, Sadiq al-Rikabi, told Reuters.

"The disagreement is on the shape of the schedule -- a timetable or objective schedule; that is they will leave when Iraqi forces are capable of preserving security."

U.S. President George W. Bush, who has committed 30,000 additional troops to Iraq, is himself under pressure from a Democratic-controlled Congress to set a timetable. He says that would undercut the Baghad offensive, which is making progress.

One analyst said Sadr could be acting to quell internal dissent over his support for the security crackdown, which has failed to stop car bombings blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda that have targeted Shi'ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad.

"Sadr is coming under pressure because of his tacit support of the security plan ... So he has to restore internal discipline, which he does by withdrawing from the political process and going back to the street," said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group think tank.

Before he entered mainstream politics, Sadr's Mehdi Army fought two uprisings against the Americans in 2004. Since then, the militia has been involved in tit-for-tat attacks against minority Sunni Arabs amid spiralling sectarian violence.

Hazim al-Nu'aimy, a political science professor at Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, said he viewed the pullout as part of a "political game" that was unlikely to spark a crisis.

"This is political maneuvering. It's not the first time they've withdrawn from the government," he said.

The Sadrists ended a two-month boycott of parliament in January after pulling out in protest over the timetable issue and a meeting between Maliki and Bush.

(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami)

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Last updated:Mon Apr 16 13:28:41 2007