Shiite Politicians to Meet About Jaafari

[cal04]

Shiite politicians plan to meet as early as Sunday at the urging of the country's top Shiite cleric to discuss the crisis over the nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for another term, officials said. Al-Jaafari's allies suggested the meeting would simply reaffirm his nomination, but others believed it could be the first step in finding another Shiite candidate for the top government post.

Opposition to al-Jaafari, including some within the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, has deadlocked talks on a national unity government, which the U.S. believes is the best way to reverse Iraq's slide toward anarchy. Jawad al-Maliki, a member of al-Jaafari's party, said representatives of all seven groups within the Shiite alliance would meet Sunday to discuss the nomination. It appeared the meeting would be limited to top leaders or key figures from the alliance factions, rather than all 130 Shiite parliament members.

The alliance's parliament members gave the nomination to al-Jaafari by a single vote in a ballot last February. Several Shiite politicians said the meeting would be held at the urging of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is anxious to prevent the al-Jaafari controversy from splintering the Shiite alliance. Shiite politicians often turn to al-Sistani for direction in politically risky issues because of his stature within the Shiite community. Sunnis and Kurds blame al-Jaafari for failing to stem rising sectarian violence between Sunnis and Kurds.

The Americans and British have been pushing the Iraqis to resolve the impasse quickly. But al-Jaafari has refused to give up the nomination, and Shiite officials fear a move to oust him could split the alliance. Al-Jaafari's allies suggested the meeting would be to affirm the prime minister's nomination. Al-Maliki, the prime minister's ally, told Al-Arabiya television that talk of the alliance discussing other candidates was not true, and al-Jaafari's office issued a statement Saturday denying some Iraqi media reports that he was about to step down.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060408/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_politics

[acmavm]

1. What am I not understanding...

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Sunnis and Kurds blame al-Jaafari for failing to stem rising sectarian violence between Sunnis and Kurds.

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It seems to me that the problem is the rising sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites. I haven't heard of any Kurdish places of worship being blown up lately.