4/18/2012
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will attend the National Alliance meeting on Wednesday to discuss all pending issues and to prepare for the National Conference, a lawmaker from the NA said. "Today's meeting is regular but it look like an urgent meeting at the house of Ibrahim al-Jaafari, head of the NA, and will be attended by Nouri al-Maliki and members of the alliance," Ibrahim al-Rakabi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The meeting will tackle all pending issues and the developments in the Iraqi political scene, as well as the preparations to hold the National Conference to solve the political problems in the country." A political crisis erupted in Iraq on December 19, when Maliki's-led government sought an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges he ran death squads and the ouster of Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq.
Al-Hashemi denies the accusations and has called for the referral of his case to the Kurdistan region, but Iraq's judiciary has rejected his request. Maliki has said the charges against Hashemi were brought by the legal system and his supporters say he is following democratic norms, not abusing them. But many Iraqi Sunnis fear Maliki was trying to sideline them from government. The crisis has been complicated by renewed tensions this month between Baghdad's central government and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government over who controls oil and disputed territories and over how much right regions have to autonomy.
© Aswat Aliraq 2012
