Iraqi Pm Hits Out at Us Warnings

The Iraqi prime minister today reacted angrily to warnings that the country risked losing US support unless it shunned sectarianism in its new government.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari spoke out after Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, said Iraqi leaders could lose support unless they established a government in which the police and army were beyond the control of religious parties.

Mr Khalilzad said Washington was investing billions of dollars in Iraq and did not want to see that money go to support sectarian policies.

His comments were echoed by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, during a visit to Baghdad for talks on a new Iraqi government.

However, Mr al-Jaafari said Iraqis did not need to be told what to do by outsiders.

"When someone asks us whether we want a sectarian government, the answer is no, we do not want a sectarian government - not because the US ambassador says so or issues a warning," he said. "We do not need anybody to remind us, thank you."

Speaking after an earlier meeting with the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, Mr. Straw urged Iraqi leaders to form a new government that was not dominated by any one religious or ethnic group.

He said he hoped to see an Iraqi government that could bring together different parts of society.

The foreign secretary’s visit was the first by a senior British government minister since the release of a video showing British troops assaulting young Iraqis.

He said the results of the election for the country’s first full-term parliament on December 15 had shown the Iraqi people wanted a "broad government of national unity" in which "no party, no ethnic or religious grouping can dominate".

"It is a crucial moment today for the people of Iraq," he said. "The international community - particularly those of us who played a part in liberating Iraq - obviously have an interest in a prosperous and stable and democratic Iraq."

The US and UK are concerned that talks among the country’s Shia, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political parties, which began last month, appeared to have stalled because of deep divisions between the three groups. Iraqis have until mid-May to form a new government.

Although the coalition of Shia parties that won 130 of the 275 seats in the new parliament has agreed in principle to a unity government, it insists its strong performance gives it the right to control key ministries.

A Kurdish alliance won 53 seats, and two Sunni Arab blocs together took 55 seats. Sunni Arabs have accused the Shia-run interior ministry of human rights abuses including kidnappings and murder.

Mr. Straw’s visit to Iraq has coincided with continued violence around the country.

Six people were killed and at least 21 injured in a series of bombings - mostly in Baghdad - today, and an Iraqi cabinet minister escaped injury when a bomb exploded near her convoy in the east of the city. Bomb attacks yesterday killed 19 people.

Mr. Straw insisted the allegations of abuse by British soldiers involved only a "tiny minority" of the 9,000 UK troops stationed in Iraq, and said the vast majority were doing a good job.

"Altogether, we’ve probably had nearly 100,000 soldiers, sailors and air force personnel through Iraq over the past three years," he said. "The numbers against whom there have been any allegations have been 0.05%. That is very tiny."

His visit came a day after the defense secretary, John Reid, made a plea for the public to recognize the pressures troops operated under.

He played down the decision by two provincial councils to stop co-operating with British forces in response to the video, saying the boycotts did not reflect the situation on the ground in southern Iraq.

"The senior politicians I have been talking to in Baghdad understand fully the very good record that the British army as a whole has got," he added.