IRAQ: A 25-member interim administration for post-war Iraq met for the first time yesterday and immediately exposed divisions over the council's powers and relations with the US-led coalition.
The creation of the interim administration, known as the governing council, ends months of negotiations between coalition and Iraqi political groups. It will have many of the functions of a provisional government although the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad can veto its decisions.
The body's first decision yesterday was to ban all holidays associated with Saddam Hussein's regime. The council also declared April 9th, the day Baghdad was captured by US forces, as a national holiday. But at a rowdy open-mike press conference, council members, while united in hatred of Saddam Hussein, appeared broadly divided on the subject of the coalition's presence in Iraq.
Disagreement on this fundamental issue also raged between Mr Abdel Aziz al Hakim, representing the Iran-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and Mr Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress. Mr al Hakim referred to the coalition as occupiers while Mr Chalabi called them liberators.
Tempers also flared over the question of what powers the governing council would have.
Mr Jalal Talabani, a council member and head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, said the council enjoyed "practically all the functions of a government". Mr al Hakim disagreed, saying the council's executive functions were limited but he hoped this would be fixed in stages. "We have, nonetheless, decided to participate because we consider this a correct first step," he said.
The controversial issue of the council chairmanship was postponed.
Perhaps the most daunting hurdle will be the scepticism of ordinary Iraqis, who view many council members as stooges of the US and see the council as a puppet government.
The 25 members were chosen jointly by Mr Paul Bremer, CPA head, and a group of seven Iraqi political parties, many of them US-supported, known as the leadership committee, each of which was given one seat.
The council was intended to reflect the "demographic and geographical make-up of Iraq", according to Mr Basil al Naqeeb, an official from the Independent Democratic party.
The appointments apparently took account of Iraq's majority Shia Muslim population. The council includes 13 Shia Muslims, five Sunni Muslims, five Kurds, one Christian and one Turkmen. Two women among the 25 members appeared yesterday wearing headscarves.
According to the CPA, the council will be able to appoint ministers, except in defence and security posts, and diplomats to represent Iraq abroad, although not at ambassador level. - (Financial Times Service)