Al-Iraqiya leader warns to withdraw his Coalition from govt. if Barazani’s initiative won’t be implemented.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Leader of al-Iraqiya Coalition, Iyad Allawi, has warned that his Coalition would withdraw from the current government if the Initiative of Kurdistan President, Masoud Barzani, to Settle the political crisis in the country would not be Implemented.   “The Government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was formed on a clear basis, which was the national partnership, and we all agreed on nine items, being part of the initiative of Kurdistan President, Masoud Barzani, most outstanding point of which had been the National Council for Strategic Policies (NCSP); but nothing had been achieved,” Allawi told IraqiNews.com news agency in an interview on Friday.   Kurdistan President, Masoud Barzani, had presented an initiative to settle the political crisis in Iraq on 16/9/2010, comprising the formation of an 8-12 member committee, representing different political blocs, to start talks to settle their pending differences and the formation of a national-partnership government, as well as the settlement of the issue of the three presidencies, i.e. the President, the Prime Minister and the Parliament Speakers posts.   “I, in person, won’t feel honored to be part of the current government, because I am convinced to act within a national-partnership government; so, we in al-Iraqiya Coalition, as well as our partners in the political process, shall study the issue of our partnership in the government, in order to define our fate during the forthcoming few months, whether to stay or withdraw from the government,” Allawi said.   Allawi said that “all parties had entered into a tunnel, and the first person who entered it had been the Prime Minister (Nouri al-Maliki), who is not implementing the partnership.” “All those issues, in addition to the constitutional rights were not settled, despite the 100-day period announced by the Prime Minister to improve services and the achievements of the cabinet ministers, who did not succeed,” he said.   He stressed that “all other constitutional rights had not been settled, including the Oil & Gas Law, which is a point of difference between Baghdad and Arbil, facts that shall lead to the failure of the government to continue.”   As regards to his expectations about the possibility for holding the next Arab Summit in Baghdad, Allawi said: “This summit won’t be held in Baghdad for many reasons, most outstanding of which had been the statements and positions towards the developments in Bahrain, along with Iraq’s bad relations and differences with its neighboring states, as well as the current demonstrations in some Arab countries.”   “The bad relations with Bahrain had led the Gulf Cooperation Council to change its position towards holding the Arab Summit in Baghdad ,” he said.   As regards to his attitude towards the Iraqi government’s position regarding the extension of the presence of the U.S. forces in Iraq , Allawi said that “Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, had announced his refusal of the extension, whilst the Americans are saying that Maliki has agreed to that.”   Noteworthy is that the U.S. combat troops had withdrawn from Iraq at the end of last August, according to the Security Agreement, concluded between Baghdad and Washington at the end of 2008, provided that the remaining 50,000 troops would withdraw before the end of the current year.   SKH (FT)   958