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Iraq appoints new ministers but one rejects post
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-08 18:55

Iraq's parliament approved the selection of six new government ministers on Sunday but the proposed human rights minister rejected the post, leaving Iraq with an incomplete cabinet three months after elections.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari smiles as he announces that Iraqi political leaders have agreed who will fill five vacant cabinet ministries and one of two deputy prime minister's slots in the new democratically elected government, at his offiice in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, May 7, 2005. [AP]

Hisham al-Shibli told Reuters he had been appointed purely because he was a Sunni Arab and he was rejecting the new job as human rights minister because he was against sectarian politics.

 "This post was given to me without anyone consulting me. I was surprised when they nominated me. It was just because I am a Sunni," he said. "This is something I reject completely. I am a democratic figure...and I am completely against sectarianism."

 Earlier, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Shibli was among six ministers approved by parliament to fill vacant posts.

 Jaafari told a news conference that Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab, had been named defence minister and Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a Shi'ite, was the new oil minister.

 Osama al-Jughaifi, a Sunni, was named industry minister, and Mohsen Shalash, a Shi'ite, was appointed electricity minister.

 Jaafari also appointed a Sunni Arab deputy prime minister, Abed Mutlak al-Jibouri, to join Shi'ite and Kurdish deputy prime ministers who have already been sworn in.

 Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein, were sidelined in the Jan. 30 elections, winning only 17 of parliament's 275 seats as most Sunni Arabs stayed away from the polls due to calls for a boycott and fears of violence.

 The Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs that dominate parliament had hoped to involve Sunni Arabs in the political process by appointing several to the new cabinet.

  Disagreements over which Sunni Arabs to choose delayed the formation of a full cabinet, and Shibli's rejection of his post means that delay will be even longer.

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