Al-Jaafari clears the way for Shiites to replace him as prime minister

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed Thursday to let Shiite lawmakers reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government.

Key to al-Jaafari's change of heart was pressure from U.N. envoy Ashraf Qazi and his meetings Wednesday with the most powerful Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who has backed al-Jaafari, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman.

"There was a signal from Najaf," Othman said, referring to al-Sistani's office in the Shiite holy city. "Qazi's meetings with (al-Sistani) and al-Sadr were the chief reason that untied the knot."

Shiite legislators planned to meet Saturday to decide whether to replace al-Jaafari, who faced fierce opposition from Iraq's Kurdish and Sunni Arab parties.

A planned session of the Iraqi parliament aimed at trying to jump-start the formation of a new government also was delayed until Saturday.

The U.S. and Britain have been pressing hard for the Iraqis to break the deadlock over al-Jaafari's nomination that has persisted since Dec. 15 elections, preventing the creation of a government at a time of increasing sectarian violence.

Among those mentioned as replacements for al-Jaafari were Jawad al-Maliki, spokesman for the prime minister's Dawa party, and another leading Dawa politician Ali al-Adeeb.

Sunni and Kurdish parties blamed the incumbent for worsening the tensions — with Sunnis refusing to back al-Jaafari because his government allegedly allowed Shiite militias to infiltrate the Iraqi police and carry out reprisal killings against Sunnis.

Kurds also believed al-Jaafari had broken promises to support their claims in the oil-rich area of Kirkuk. The Kurds want to incorporate the area into their three-province self-governing region.

Al-Jaafari won the alliance nomination two months ago by only one vote, beating Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi with al-Sadr's support.

Stepping up the pressure earlier this month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw flew to Baghdad and demanded quick action to resolve the impasse. However, several Iraqi figures complained the U.S. and British intervention had prompted al-Jaafari's supporters to dig in their heels against what many Iraqis considered foreign interference.