Secularists pull ministers out of Iraq government24 Aug 2007 09:12:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Three secularist ministers who
were already boycotting meetings of Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet will formally quit the government,
their bloc said on Friday.
The move by the secularist group of former Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi deals a further blow to Maliki's efforts to rebuild
a national unity coalition, which has been crumbling since
the main Sunni Arab group and others walked out.
"The Iraqi List has decided to withdraw from the government
and we will send a memo to the government to inform them of
our stance at the beginning of next week," a senior member
of the bloc, Iyad Jamal al-Deen, told Reuters.
The bloc has five ministers in the government, three of whom
were now quitting, while a fourth, the justice minister, had
already resigned, he said. The fifth, a member of the
Communist Party, was not participating in the walkout.
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