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Iraq's unity government sworn into office
(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-21 10:12

The vote of approval went quickly, with parliament members elected in December 15 elections waving raised hands to ratify al-Maliki's nominees one by one.

"Despite all the attempts to disrupt the political process they have a government, a government ... of national unity for the first time," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Blair said coalition soldiers hoped to transfer their duties to Iraqis as soon as possible, but that British troops would remain in Iraq for as long as they were needed.

"The timetable is governed by the job being done. The new prime minister today made it very clear he, like us, wants to see Iraq in control of its own destiny," Blair said.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim who spent years in exile in Syria during Saddam Hussein's regime, promised that restoring security would be his top priority.

"The first challenge we face is security and how to deal with the terrorist killers who are destroying the country and shedding the blood of the Iraqi people," he said.

He outlined a 34-point plan to bring security, implement the rule of law and restore basic services like electricity _ now available for only four hours a day in the capital.

In a sign of the divisions that held up forming the government, al-Maliki could not work out an agreement on the Cabinet's three posts responsible for security and had to appoint himself and two deputy prime ministers to temporarily hold those positions.

Al-Maliki, who has a reputation as a hard-liner, was chosen by the dominant Shiite bloc after Sunni and Kurdish parties refused to accept Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for a second term as head of government. U.S. officials also opposed al-Jaafari, viewing him as ineffectual. Nevertheless, Al-Maliki, 55, is politically close to al-Jaafari and largely untested as an administrator.

Hussain al-Shahristani, the Shiite Muslim chosen as oil minister, promised to increase oil production and give all Iraqis a share.

"For every Iraqi, a share in the oil wealth," al-Shahristani said.

As for the three unfilled posts, al-Maliki said he would be acting interior minister for now, and he tapped his Sunni Arab deputy prime minister, Salam Zikam al-Zubaie, as temporary defense minister. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, will be acting minister of state for national security.

The new prime minister hopes to fill the jobs with politicians who are independent and have no affiliation with any of Iraq's sectarian militias, which are blamed for the sharp rise in Shiite-Sunni bloodshed that has raised fears of civil war.

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