Iraq PM Jaafari defies critics, talks go on

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BAGHDAD, March 12 (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose nomination for a second term has deadlocked the formation of a national unity government, insisted on Sunday that he would not step down.

The Shi'ite United Alliance, by far the largest bloc in parliament, chose Jaafari in an internal ballot last month.

But Kurds, Sunnis and others, who say Jaafari has failed to bring stability or prosperity to Iraq in the year he has been interim premier, are pressing the Alliance to drop him as the price for their joining a U.S.-sponsored grand coalition.

"My nomination was settled by the Alliance in a democratic manner and that should be respected and accepted," Jaafari told reporters after meeting President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who has made no secret of his own preference for Jaafari to quit.

Reuters