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President of Iraq Calls for Unity

Iraq`s president expressed confidence this week that the country`s major political parties would form a united government in coming weeks, putting aside ethnic and sectarian rivalries for the sake of protecting the country`s fragile democracy. At a time of intense terrorist violence and communal bickering, the need for a united government is rooted in practical politics, Iraq watchers say.

"We are keen that the government does not only include Kurds and Shiites," President Jalal Talabani said at a news conference in Baghdad, referring to the dominant forces in Iraq`s upcoming parliament. "It should also include the Sunni Arab-dominated Accordance Front and other blocs," Talabani said. According to preliminary results, Shiite Muslims, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq`s population, won a resoundingly convincing victory in the last Iraqi elections, held December 15, 2005.

But they will need support from other groups to form a stable government, and so are looking for a way to wean Sunni Arabs away from the insurgent movement responsible for much of the daily violence in Iraq. To entice Sunnis into the political process, Shiites and Kurds are moving toward giving them a share of political power and yielding to demands that the country stay unified, rather than splitting along sectarian or ethnic lines into regional strongholds.