Cabinet gaps, disarmament on table between PM Al-Zaidi and Nouri Al-Maliki
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi and State of Law Coalition (SLC) leader Nouri Al-Maliki on Thursday discussed completing the Cabinet and bringing all weapons under state authority, with nine ministries still unfilled and a September 30 weapons-control deadline approaching.
The meeting also covered anti-corruption measures, integrity safeguards, and economic reform, alongside efforts to strengthen state institutions and government performance.
On May 14, Parliament approved Al-Zaidi’s government and ministerial program but granted confidence to only 14 of 23 ministers, with unresolved portfolios including Defense, Interior, Planning, Higher Education, Labor, Migration and Displacement, Culture, Reconstruction and Housing, and Youth and Sports. During earlier cabinet negotiations, Al-Maliki’s SLC backed Qasim Atta for the Interior Ministry, while the Defense portfolio remained subject to political bargaining.
Al-Zaidi also told CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper on August 12 that the US-led Coalition’s military mission and the departure of foreign forces would be completed by September 30, leaving Iraq free of foreign military forces from October 1. He also stressed that weapons must be confined exclusively to state authority under the law.
Read more: Iraqi armed group: No disarmament before US withdrawal, air defense
