IRAQ: Iraqi leaders have agreed on a national unity government to be presented to parliament today, negotiators said yesterday, adding that the key interior and defence ministries would be filled later.
"The government will be announced tomorrow," a senior aide to prime minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki said.
The aide said Mr Maliki, a Shia Islamist, would temporarily fill the post of interior minister for one week and that vice-president Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, would take over defence, also for a week.
Parliament is scheduled to meet today to approve the government, ending months of political deadlock that followed elections in December.
Wrangling between Shia and Sunni Arab political groups over who would control the key portfolios of interior and defence had delayed an announcement on the make-up of the government, widely seen as the best hope of avoiding a further slide towards sectarian civil war.
Sunni leaders have accused the Shia-controlled interior ministry of running death squads, a charge it denies. Mr Maliki has promised he will appoint an independent with no ties to militias.
Washington hopes the formation of Iraq's first full-term government since the US-led invasion in 2003 will foster stability and allow it to begin withdrawing troops.
Sources said Iraq's new oil minister will be nuclear scientist Hussain al-Shahristani.