Sunnis fault Maliki for Cabinet dispute

BAGHDAD, May 29 (UPI) -- A lawmaker with the Sunni political bloc Iraqi Accordance Front said Thursday the dispute over its return to the government does not concern Cabinet seats.

The IAF, along with other groups including the Sadrist Movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, left the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in August over a series of political disputes.

Taha al-Lahiebi with the Sunni bloc said the Maliki government was holding up the process of selecting a new Cabinet because of the July 1 parliamentary recess, Voices of Iraq said.

"The government is trying to delay the acceptance of the candidates in order to stall the approval of the new ministers to the parliament because the recess will begin soon," he said in a phone interview.

IAF members submitted a list of six candidates for the Cabinet, but earlier reports said the bloc withdrew the names over a dispute regarding its candidate for the minister of planning, currently occupied by Ali Baban, an independent. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Tuesday the issue concerned problems within the IAF.

Meanwhile, Adnan al-Asadi with the Interior Ministry said Iraqi forces will be able to take over responsibility for security operations in Baghdad from U.S.-led forces by 2009.

"Interior Ministry forces are almost self-sufficient in weapons and training. ... They are on their way to meeting the required number of police troops," he said.

Asadi said the incorporation of the Sunni paramilitary force Sons of Iraq into national security forces would boost the ranks of the Iraqi military.

"Next year, Interior Ministry forces will be fully prepared to take over the security file in the capital, Baghdad," Asadi said.