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The sectarian violence that
has broken out in Iraq in the wake of last week's
bombing of a Shi'ite shrine continues to claim victims.
Over 30 people were killed on March 2 in ongoing
tit-for-tat reprisals. Now, the violence is taking a
political toll, too, as efforts to form a new government
crumble. On March 2, Kurdish parties sent a letter to
the dominant Shi'ite coalition saying they will not back
its choice of incumbent Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari
to form the next government. The letter, also backed by
some Sunni and secular parties, signaled that Iraq's
political parties could be no closer to forming a badly
needed government of national unity today than they were
immediately after the country's mid-December
parliamentary elections.
It's nearly 10 days since
the bombing of a key Shi'ite mosque in Samarra on
February 22 and the death toll has climbed to nearly 450
people.
Today, a government ban on the use of private cars in
Baghdad is back in force in an effort to prevent new car
bombings during Friday prayers. The one-day ban repeats
a similar curb put into effect last Friday.
So far, such measures and calls for calm from political
and religious leaders have brought a gradual decline in
the level of violence. But they are far from ending a
crisis that has seen the worst sectarian unrest in Iraq
since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
Now, efforts to form a government are crumbling as a
result. Kurdish, Sunni, and secular parties said on
March 2 that they will not support the dominant Shi'ite
coalition's choice of incumbent Prime Minister al-Ja'fari
to form the next Iraqi government.
They told reporters that al-Ja'fari has failed to
contain the sectarian violence. Specifically, they fault
him for the delay in imposing a curfew last week, saying
that allowed attacks to spiral out of control.
RFE/RL.
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