Iraq’s President, Parliament’s Deputy Speaker call for further pacification efforts

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq ’s President Jalal Talabani and the Parliament’s Deputy Speaker, Qusay al-Suhail, have agreed on Sunday to continue efforts to achieve pacification among different political parties in the country, a Parliament statement stated.   “Agreement has been reached between Talabani and Suhail to continue efforts to pacify the situation, among different political forces, in order to push the political march forward and face the future challenges in the country,” the statement pointed out after the meeting.   It said that both sides “have discussed the current initiatives to settle the political crisis, including the initiative of (Shiite) Leader Muqtada al-Sadr, in order to prepare the atmospheres for holding a meeting for the leaders of different political forces and strive to achieve its success.”   “Both sides had also discussed the trimming down of the government and to find proper solutions to avoid its passive impact on any of the political blocs,” the statement added.   Noteworthy is that a previous meeting for the political forces in Iraq have decided to stop and put an end for all media campaigns that undermine the atmospheres among those forces.   Iraq ’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had called, after the end of his 100-day period, aimed at evaluating the activity of his cabinet ministries, for the trimming down of his current cabinet, including 43 ministers, in order to improve the government’s activity.   Iraq had witnessed a series of political crisis since March, 2010 nationwide elections, in the background of mistrust between the two largest political blocs, sharing in the Parliament and the cabinet, the State of Law Coalition , led by Nouri al-Maliki and al-Iraqiya Coalition, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.   SKH (RT)