US President Barack Obama said on Monday the naming of a new prime minister in Baghdad is a promising step forward in the effort to form a unifying Iraqi government.

At the same time Obama ignored incumbent Nuri al-Maliki, the long-time Iraqi leader who for years enjoyed support from Washington.

Obama said he called to congratulate Shiite politician Haidar al-Abadi after he was named prime minister-designate. He urged al-Abadi to name a new cabinet “that is inclusive of all Iraqis” as quickly as possible.

He said new Iraqi leadership had a difficult task: regaining the confidence of Iraqi citizens “by governing inclusively and by taking steps to demonstrate its resolve.” His administration will support a government that addresses the needs and grievances of all Iraqi people, Obama said.

Al-Maliki rejected the appointment of al-Abadi as unconstitutional.

In a televised speech he said the decision would “have no effects” and vowed to continue with his own nomination. He accused the United States of trying to overthrow him.

Obama implied that the decision of President Fouad Massoum to name al-Abadi was legal.

“Under the Iraqi constitution, this is an important step towards forming a new government that can unite Iraq’s different communities,” he said, speaking from Martha’s Vinyard in Massachusetts, where he is vacationing.

Massoum asked al-Abadi to form the next government after a majority of the Shiite National Alliance parliamentary grouping backed the move, local media reported.

Al-Maliki remains prime minister, US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. Under Iraq’s constitution, al-Abadi has 30 days to bring a cabinet and government programme to Parliament for approval.

More than half of al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc joined the revolt against the two-term prime minister, who is widely blamed for alienating Iraq’s Sunni minority.

Shiite religious authorities and Iraq’s Western allies have joined the push against al-Maliki in recent weeks, convinced that a more conciliatory figure is needed to halt the advance of Sunni extremists with the Islamic State militant group.

In office since 2006, al-Maliki had earlier vowed to contest Massoum’s action in the Federal Supreme Court, arguing that he should be allowed a third term because State of Law is the largest group in Parliament.

The Supreme Court appeared to back al-Maliki’s position, with state television reporting that it had confirmed that State of Law, with its 95 seats in the 328-member Parliament, was the largest bloc.

Rival Shiite leaders have argued that the umbrella National Alliance, which has 173 seats including al-Maliki’s group, counts as the largest parliamentary bloc and should have the first opportunity to nominate a premier.

Unrest in Iraq

Meanwhile, the US military said its forces successfully conducted airstrikes on Monday on four Islamic State checkpoints and vehicles near Sinjar Mountain.

It was the fifth consecutive day of US airstrikes against the Islamic State terrorists.

Earlier on Monday, Alsumaria reported Sunni extremists won further gains against Kurdish forces in the north.

Islamic State took control of most of Jalula district, where it has been locked in battles with Kurdish Peshmerga forces since mid-June, the report said, quoting a local police source.

The setback for the Kurds came after they claimed gains against the jihadists in Nineveh province.

The Kurdish Rudaw news service, which is sympathetic to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of regional President Massoud Barzani, said that the Peshmerga had regained control of Gweir and the strategic Makhmur district, south of the Kurdish capital Erbil.

A top US official confirmed on Monday that Kurdish forces expelled Islamic State extremists from those two areas.

The official, Lieutenant General William Mayville, said US air strikes against Islamic State militants in the area around Sinjar Mountain, where thousands of people have fled, over the last four days had slowed their progress.

“I don’t want to say that we have effectively contained or have broken the momentum of the (militants),” said Mayville at a Pentagon press briefing.

The Islamic State fighters are well-organised and well-equipped, and remain focused on gaining more territory, Mayville said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW