displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq. (AP Yahoo)
Sunnis and Kurds walked out of the Iraqi parliament Tuesday after Shiites failed to name a new prime minister to replace Nouri al-Maliki.
Reuters reported:
Sunnis and Kurds abandoned the first meeting of Iraq’s new parliament on Tuesday after Shi’ites failed to name a prime minister to replace Nuri al-Maliki, wrecking hopes that a unity government would be swiftly built to save Iraq from collapse.
The United States, United Nations, Iran and Iraq’s own Shi’ite clergy have pushed hard for politicians to come up with an inclusive government to save the country as Sunni insurgents bear down on Baghdad.
But with Shi’ites failing to name a prime minister, Sunnis and Kurds refused to return from recess at the parliamentary chamber in the fortified “green zone” where they were meeting for the first time since an election in April.
Parliament is not likely to meet again for at least a week, leaving the country in a state of political limbo and Maliki clinging to power as a caretaker, rejected by Sunnis and Kurds.
