Iraq gets new government

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to rein in violence and heal Iraq's sectarian wounds after parliament approved his national unity government yesterday to end months of stalemate that have raised fears of civil war.

Hours after bombs killed 24 people, underlining the scale of his task, Maliki said restoring stability was the top priority of a broad coalition whose formation gave Iraq its first fully sovereign government since US troops overthrew Saddam Hussein.

Two days short of a deadline set with Maliki's nomination a month ago, a deal struck late on Friday was backed by most sectarian and ethnic groups. It gave another week for agreement on ministers for the key interior and defence portfolios, as well as a less powerful national security minister.

"We will work (to)... preserve the unity of the Iraqi people," said Maliki, a no-nonsense Shi'ite Islamist who vowed to "close up divisions that have emerged through sectarianism".

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who like US President George W. Bush has invested massive personal political capital in the now widely unpopular war to topple Saddam, said: "I'm obviously deeply relieved we've got a government. It's been six months of agonising wait to get one."

Running briskly through a 33-point government programme that highlighted security and the economy, Maliki said he would beef up Iraq's army and police so that foreign troops could "go back to their countries" on an "objective timetable".

The United States, which has 130,000 troops suffering almost daily casualties in Iraq, is training Iraqi forces to take over security and allow it to send troops home. Washington has refused to publish a timetable for withdrawal. The cabinet was approved by a show of hands, minister by minister, after a turbulent start to the parliamentary session, when more than a dozen minority Sunni leaders walked out.

The main Sunni Arab leadership, which controls the bulk of the Sunnis' 50-odd seats in the 275-member chamber, held firm after the walkout by the dissidents. Washington says a Sunni presence at last in a full, sovereign government can draw Saddam Hussein's once-dominant minority away from revolt into politics.

Sectarian wrangling has delayed formation of a government since an election in December. In-fighting within Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish groups added to Maliki's difficulties. Days more arguing are likely over the interior and defence jobs, filled respectively for now by Maliki and a Sunni deputy premier.

The prime minister, who fled Iraq in 1980 under sentence of death, has impressed some by the way he has appeared to transform himself from a pugnacious backroom defender of Shi'ite majority interests into a consensus-building statesman within a month. But fellow negotiators question how far he will be able to impose team spirit on ministers reporting back to powerful leaders of rival parties, who sit outside the government.

Washington has grown frustrated with Iraqi leaders' haggling over the five months since an election hailed as a final step from Saddam's dictatorship to democracy. Iraqis too, who turned out in large numbers to vote in December, have been growing impatient for a leadership that can address their massive problems - security certainly, but also a devastated economy and poor basic public services.

"No matter who rules, he must lead us to safety. The country is devastated. We hope the government can save what's left," said Jabbar Isho Gorgis, a 42-year-old photographer in Baghdad.

Hundreds of people are being killed every month in Baghdad alone - 12 bodies were found yesterday, all bound and shot in the head - and 100,000 or more have fled homes in fear since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February.

Sunni Islamists like al Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other rebel groups from the minority Sunni community are waging a relentless campaign of violence.

Militias tied to political parties have tens of thousands of men under arms and Iraq's oil sector is crippled after years of war, international sanctions and more recently rebel sabotage.

Just hours before parliament sat in the heavily fortified Green Zone, protected by US military firepower, a bomb killed at least 19 people in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City slum.

In the Sunni town of Qaim, near the Syrian border, a suicide bomber killed five policemen inside a police station. A further 58 people were wounded in the Baghdad blast, which was typical of al Qaeda. Baghdad and, especially, mostly Shi'ite southern Iraq have also seen violence between Shi'ite factions.

The bomb targeted men gathered after dawn hoping to be hired for casual labour: "When will this end?" one teenager sobbed as he stood amid pools of blood. "Where is the government?"