Iraq's Top Shiite Cleric Al-Sistani Calls for New Government



 Written : Mohamed Abdel fattah


Jun 21, 2014

 The most respected voice for Iraq's Shiite majority on Friday suggested that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki needed to recast his approach or step down .

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's thinly veiled reproach was the most influential to place blame on the Shiite prime minister for the nation's spiraling crisisas Sunni militants have joined forces with the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

"It is necessary for the winning political blocs to start a dialogue that yields an effective government that enjoys broad national support, avoids past mistakes and opens new horizons toward a better future for all Iraqis," al-Sisanti said in a message delivered by his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy city of Karbala.

Al-Sistani's Friday sermon also called for the newly elected parliament to begin work and start the process of forming the next government without delay, Reuters reports. Maliki's party won the most seats in last month's election, but his coalition fell short of a majority.

The Iranian-born al-Sistani, believed to be 86, lives in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, where he rarely ventures out of his modest house and does not give media interviews

U.S. administration officials welcomed Ayatollah Sistani's comments, which came as Secretary of State John Kerry  prepared to travel to the region in attempt to expedite the creation of a new Iraqi government.

"One of our primary messages both publicly and privately to Iraqi leaders is that now is the time to be unified against the shared threat that they face," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki  said.

On Thursday, Obama stopped short of calling for al-Maliki to resign, but his carefully worded comments did all but that. "Only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis," Obama declared at the White House.

Police and army officials said Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, along with allied militants, seized Qaim and its crossing, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, after killing some 30 Iraqi troops in daylong clashes Friday.

Sunni militants have carved out a large fiefdom along the Iraqi-Syrian border and have long traveled back and forth with ease.

Sources

usatoday

online.wsj.com

AP

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