Maliki says he won't accept resignation of Sunni bloc

Above: The major players -- Nuri al-Maliki (Prime Minister, Shiite), Tariq al-Hashemi (one of two Vice Presidents, Sunni), Moqtada al-Sadr ('fiery' anti-American cleric, Shiite), Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim (head of the largest Shiite coalition), Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq, Kurd, Qadiri Sufi sect of Sunnism), and Massoud Barzani (President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Naqshbandi Sufi sect of Sunnisim). The Sunni bloc recently returned to parliament after Mahmud Mashhadani was reinstated as speaker, but has withdrawn its cabinet ministers from Maliki's cabinet. Sadr's parliamentary bloc also returned recently to the legislature following a protest of the most recent bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, but also withdrew from the cabinet in April. The U.S. military has said that Sadr is back in Iran, which Sadr's aides deny.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has refused to accept the resignations of six Sunni Arab cabinet ministers who quit last week, a source in the prime minister's office said on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie and five other ministers from the largest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament, the Accordance Front, triggered a political crisis by announcing their resignations last week.

A senior member of parliament from the Accordance Front said the ministers would still quit, despite Maliki's decision not to accept their resignations.

"We are insisting on our position. For us, the matter does not end with Maliki accepting or rejecting the resignations," Salim al-Jibouri told Reuters.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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