Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council named 25 ministers today in a step toward giving Iraqis more say in the running of their occupied country.
The announcement came as mourners flooded Shi'ite shrines south of the capital on the second day of the funeral of a top Shi'ite cleric who advocated cooperation with the occupying powers and was killed in a massive car bomb attack on Friday.
The new ministers, most of them little-known, will oversee the day-to-day running of their departments but there is no prime minister and overall authority remains with US governor Mr Paul Bremer until an elected government is installed.
The Governing Council, appointed by Mr Bremer in July and made up of leading Iraqis from across the religious and ethnic spectrum, appointed Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, from the Shi'ite Muslim majority, to the key role of oil minister.
Al-Uloum takes responsibility for the rehabilitation of Iraq's dilapidated and war-damaged oil industry, Baghdad's only significant source of export revenues.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official Hoshyar Zebari was named foreign minister, former exile Nouri Badran interior minister and Kamel al-Keylani finance minister.
A woman, Nisreen Brawi, will be minister for public works and Abdul Basit Turki was given a new human rights portfolio. The defense and information ministries were dissolved by the US-led authority ruling Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April.
The ministers will be sworn in after tomorrow's burial of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) who was killed with more than 80 of his followers in the holy city of Najaf.
Hakim had called for cautious cooperation with the US-led administration, saying it was the best way to ensure a smooth transition to democracy in Iraq, where 60 per cent of the population are Shi'ite.
But Shi'ite leaders voiced anger about what they see as the failure of the US military to provide security for Iraqis. "These troops are ultimately responsible for achieving security and stability," said Hakim's brother Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who represents SCIRI on the Governing Council.
The US military say they face a tough balancing act as they want to provide security but not offend Muslims by placing foreign troops near holy sites. There was no sign of US forces in Kerbala today but Iraqi police and armed members of SCIRI patrolled the streets, directing traffic and clearing a path for Hakim's coffin.