IRAQ: Iraqi Prime Minister and President announce new alliance including Shiites and Kurds; Bomb in Baghdad parking lot kills 9

The prime minister and president of Iraq have announced a new alliance in the hope of ending a political stagnation that has crippled the country for months. Earlier, a car bomb killed nine in Baghdad. Iraqi political leaders held a summit in Baghdad on Thursday (August 16) in an attempt to end a political crisis which has paralyzed the country for months. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, president of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region, Masoud Barzani, and an aide to Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim attended the summit. "This agreement has come about to try and end the current freeze in the political process," said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of a document jointly signed by the leaders after the meeting. "I believe that the implementation of this paper, this agreement, will help solve many different problems and help solve the current crisis and attract others to come and cooperate with us because this document is a national unity one," agreed Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. Al-Maliki last week arranged the much-anticipated summit to try to end political crisis. Maliki, whose national unity government has been in crisis since the main Sunni Arab bloc pulled out, said he would either lure it back or find other Sunni Arabs to replace it. U.S. officials have called the meeting a make-or-break moment for the government, which was formed in 2006 to reduce violence by including all groups but has been paralysed by boycotts and infighting on ethnic and sectarian lines. Earlier on Thursday, a bomb went off in a busy commercial area near al-Russafi Square in the heart of Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 17. "I was shopping when a powerful blast took place," said Ali Hussein, a street vendor in the area. The blast set cars and a multi-story building on fire, sending thick black smoke billowing into the air.

ITN Source | August 16, 2007

Tags:. .problems. .believe. .leaders. .moment. .heart