Jafaari government takes oath, six vacant posts

The Iraqi interim government led by Ibrahim al-Jaafari took its constitutional oath on Tuesday before the speaker of the National Assembly (the parliament).

The al-Jaafari government will assume the job of approving the new constitution and supervising the organization of the general elections by the end of the current year.

The ministerial formation was announced after the agreement to nominate the Sunni Arab candidates to occupy the ministerial posts dedicated to them, but the Iraqi deputy interim President Ghazi Elyawer was absent from the session of the oath taking ceremony.

One of the main posts in the new government is for Amad Chalabi as a deputy premier, Hoshyar Zeibari as a foreign minister, Bayan Jabar as a minister of the interior and Ali Abdul Ameer Allawi as a minister of finance. As a result of differences over the ministerial posts, six posts remained vacant including the ministries of defense, oil and industry, and so far the two deputies for the prime minister were not nominated.