Some 150 chieftains and personalities from Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salahaddin provinces began a conference today which aims at shoring up support for efforts to replace Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The meeting is held at the house of Akram Zangana, Kirkuk-chief of the Iraqi National Accord Movement (INAM), led by Maliki's elections rival, Ayad Allawi.

"We, 150 sheikhs, chieftains and administrative and political party officials, are in this meeting to announce our stance ….to support the front of adversaries PM Maliki," said Kareem Fadus, Liheb Tribe's chieftain.

Fadus added "we also demand ousting him[Maliki]."

He continued this is the first time a conference displays "such a unity" among the tribes, which proves that the citizens "have realized the threats of this government.

"We demand that …Osama al-Nujaifi [speaker for the Iraqi House of Representatives] be ousted, but in the first phase Maliki should be brought down."

Three forces in the House of Representatives, Iraqiya List of Ayad Allawi, Sadr Current of Muqtada Sadr and Kurdistan Blocs Coalition, endeavor to replace Maliki through an interrogation session inside the House.

The MPs' earlier effort to withdraw confidence from Maliki through a signature campaign failed due to lack of necessary number of signatures.

Sadr, Allawi and Kurdistan's President Massoud Barzani met three times. In the first meeting on April 28, they warned Maliki to stop his "unilateral" ruling.

Later they demanded the National Alliance to name another candidate to replace Maliki.

As Maliki rejected the allegations and NA stated it will hold onto Maliki and negotiations to settle the political crisis, the MPs began the signature campaign.

Soon after efforts to replace Maliki began, the State of Law Coalition (SLC) also accused House Speaker of violations and demanded he should be replaced.




AKnews