Iraq on Saturday formed its first full term post-invasion government, a unity coalition aimed at uniting a country torn by sectarian bloodshed but still lacking permanent ministers in key security posts.
BAGHDAD: Iraq on Saturday formed its first full term post-invasion government, a unity coalition aimed at uniting a country torn by sectarian bloodshed but still lacking permanent ministers in key security posts.
The cabinet of 37 ministers was approved at a session of parliament after being presented by prime minister designate Nuri al-Maliki. Maliki will be officially confirmed in his post once the chamber approves his national plan.
Parliament later adjourned till Monday.
But underlining the pervasive threat of violence, 26 people were killed violence across the country, including 19 who lost their lives a bomb blast in Baghdad hours ahead of the announcement.
The blast hit the Shiite-dominated district of Sadr City, also wounding 58 workers at a foodstall where they had gathered for breakfast, the interior ministry said.
Maliki announced the government's formation more than five months after the general election, a wait that had raised concerns a power vacuum was allowing insurgents to seize the initiative.
However his new government lacked permanent appointments for the ultra-sensitive posts of interior and defence minister after fierce lobbying from Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions forced further negotiations.
In the meantime, Maliki will run the interior ministry while Sunni deputy prime minister designate Salam al-Zaubai will run the defense ministry for the next week.
Zaubai was also named a deputy prime minister along with the Kurd Barham Saleh, who also becomes acting minister of state security.
The security portfolios are critical because of Iraq's raging insurgency and sectarian violence and President Jalal Talabani has said he would not support the formation of a government without security posts.
A handful of Sunni deputies walked out of parliament upon hearing that permanent security ministers would not be selected at the session.
Among other key posts, parliament approved former deputy parliament speaker, the Shiite independent Hussein Shahristani, to be oil minister.
In a surprise move, former interior minister Bayan Jabr Solagh, who has faced criticism over Shiite-led militias linked to the ministry, was given the finance portfolio.
Although Maliki is a conservative Shiite and the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance swept the December elections, his government contains ministers from across the ethnic and confessional spectrum in a bid to bring unity to the country.
The minority Sunnis -- dominant under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and believed to form the backbone of the insurgency -- are represented in the government.
Iraq's Kurdish minority is strongly represented, most notably with Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who stays in his post.
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