BAGHDAD, May 20 (UPI) -- A Sunni tribal Awakening Council leader Monday told the Iraqi central government the group did not want to take part in the formation of a new government.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is expected to announce the formation of a new Cabinet soon. There are 10 empty seats in the current government.
The head of the al-Dulaim clan in Iraq and tribal council member Sheik Ali Hatem al-Sulaiman said he would not submit a list of candidates to fill ministerial seats in the new government.
The Awakening Councils spawned the paramilitary security force Sons of Iraq, which receives funding from the U.S. military in Iraq.
"We've notified the government in early May of our decision not to participate in the new government formation. We don't have any ambitions to Cabinet posts," Sulaiman told Voices of Iraq.
Ali al-Adib with Maliki's Dawa Party said it would be difficult for the Awakening, or Sahwa, Councils to mount a campaign for ministerial seats because the rival Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, which withdrew from the Maliki government in August, refuses to file proxy votes for the tribal elders.
Awakening members had submitted a list of 16 names for consideration for the new Cabinet in April. IAF members say the Awakening Councils are moving to take over the ministerial seats vacated by the group.
"(It) would be hard for the Sahwa candidates to gain a majority in the Parliament due to their rival Iraqi Accordance Front members' refusal to vote for them," Adib said.
