Iraq main parties break off coalition talks

The two men vying to lead Iraq broke off talks on Monday aimed at forming a government after an unseemly quarrel over their blocs' sectarian roots, five months after general elections.

In yet another disappointing development for the war-torn nation's citizens, suffering persistent power cuts and a lack of reconstruction, election winner Iyad Allawi demanded an apology from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

A spokeswoman for Iraqiya, Maysoon al-Damluji, said the bloc stopped negotiations with Maliki's State of Law after he described Allawi's group as Sunni, rather than cross-sectarian in a television interview to be broadcast on Monday.

"We demand that he apologizes, not to Iraqiya but to the supporters of Iraqiya who voted for a national project and not a sectarian one," Damluji said.

Intisar Allawi, a senior Iraqiya official, said more than 26 of its 91 elected lawmakers were Shiite, as was Iyad Allawi himself.

"So why does he call us a Sunni bloc? This is an insult," she said.

However, Allawi's party left the door open for a return to talks. "We have asked him to apologize. Without an apology, we are not going to negotiate with him anymore," she said.

While Allawi is a Shiite, like Maliki and the majority of Iraq's population, his bloc claimed most of its electoral support from the predominantly Sunni regions of western and northern Iraq.

While neither won the majority in the March 7 election needed to govern, Maliki's State of Law won two seats fewer than Iraqiya in the 325-seat parliament. Iraqiya won broad backing from Sunnis who saw Allawi as a secular strongman willing to defend their cause and to stand up against Shiite power Iran.

State of Law merged after the election with Iraq's other main Shiite-led faction, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), to become the biggest group in the new parliament.

But Maliki's desire to serve a second term has been fiercely opposed by some of his Shiite partners. That led him to start negotiations with Allawi.

The decision to end the talks could propel Maliki back into the arms of the INA, but it could also energize negotiations between Iraqiya and the INA's main elements, in particular the Iran-friendly Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI).

It was also likely to mean that establishing a new government will take even longer than many had hoped.

We demand that he apologizes, not to Iraqiya but to the supporters of Iraqiya who voted for a national project and not a sectarian one

Spokeswoman for Iraqiya Maysoon al-Damluji

Court bid to break deadlock

In an apparent sign of simmering public discontent with Iraq's political elite over its failure to form a government, meanwhile, a dozen civic groups launched a court bid to break the political deadlock.

The 12 charities and pressure groups brought a legal appeal to Iraq's Federal Supreme Court against caretaker parliament speaker Fuad Massum, accusing him of violating the war-wracked country's constitution.

They allege that by never formally closing the Council of Representatives' first session, which was originally held on June 14, progress on the naming of a new speaker, the country's president and prime minister has been impeded.

"We call on the Federal Court to require the defendant ... to end the open session as it violates the constitution ... (or) dissolve the Council of Representatives and carry out new elections," they said in a statement.

While the constitution stipulates that a speaker, president and premier must be elected in that order, analysts note the posts will likely be decided on jointly by Iraq's main political groups as part of a grand bargain.

Massum, who holds his post by virtue of being parliament's oldest lawmaker, conceded that leaving the house's first session open "was a violation of the constitution, and ... I will stand before the court to defend my stance, and I will accept any ruling the court will make."

The impasse comes as Washington withdraws thousands of troops ahead of an August 31 declaration of an end to combat operations, by which time 50,000 U.S. soldiers will be left in Iraq, down from the current figure of around 60,000.

U.S. and Iraqi officials warn that insurgent groups may use the lack of a new government to step up their attacks, with more people dying from violence in July than any month since 2008.

We call on the Federal Court to require the defendant ... to end the open session as it violates the constitution ... (or) dissolve the Council of Representatives and carry out new elections

Statement