IRAQ: Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Muslim cleric, gave his conditional approval to the country's new interim government yesterday but said it had "mammoth tasks" ahead.
Ayatollah Sistani said the government, chosen by the United Nations, the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and US officials, lacked "electoral legitimacy" but it was a step in the right direction and would succeed if specific goals were met.
"The hope is that this government will prove its worthiness and integrity and its firm readiness to perform the mammoth tasks it is burdened with," the Shia cleric said in a statement issued by his office in the holy city of Najaf and stamped with his official seal.
The Ayatollah, who holds huge sway over Iraq's 60 per cent Shia majority, listed four key tasks that the government had to tackle: security, basic services for all, a new UN resolution granting Iraq full sovereignty and the organising of free and fair elections early next year.
"The new government will not have popular acceptance unless it proves through practical and clear steps that it seeks diligently and seriously to achieve these tasks," Ayatollah Sistani said.
He said the government would also be judged on how successful it was at alleviating the impact of 15 months of occupation.
Another influential Shia cleric, Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi al-Muddaresi, complained that Muslims were not sufficiently represented in the new government, which he said did not show good will on the part of the US-led occupation.
He called the new government a step towards sovereignty but urged Iraqis to use all peaceful means to ensure their voices were heard on the future of the country.
The government was sworn in on Tuesday with Mr Iyad Allawi, a secular Shia and former CIA-backed opposition leader in exile, as its Prime Minister and Mr Ghazi Yawar, a Sunni tribal leader and former executive in Saudi Arabia, as its President.
The posts were chosen after weeks of debate and discussion led by the UN special envoy, Mr Lakhdar Brahimi, in co-ordination with the now dissolved governing council and US officials, particularly Mr Paul Bremer, the US administrator of Iraq.
The government held its first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but the planned handover to an interim Iraqi government will not take place until June 30th. Even then, 150,000 US-led troops will continue to be in charge of security in Iraq.