Word: sunnis
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...leaders on the world stage face as many grave crises as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. So perhaps it's no surprise that Maliki has maintained his stony public image amid Iraq's latest political calamity, a withdrawal from the government by the main Sunni faction, the Iraqi Accordance Front...
...move by the Sunni bloc, known in Arabic as Tawafiq, leaves 12 empty seats in Maliki's cabinet, which is supposed to have 37 members. Six ministers tendered their resignation last week after Maliki failed to take any visible steps to address the faction's longstanding concerns, which revolve mainly around the fate of Sunni detainees held by the government and a lack of services in Sunni areas of the country. In the spring, six other ministers loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr abandoned Maliki's government in protest over the Prime Minister's refusal to take a stronger stance against...
...might be the case that Maliki believes that he can deal with other Sunni leaders," said a senior Western diplomat in Baghdad watching the situation closely. "We're at a period where the Sunni community is a bit up for grabs right now in terms of leadership...
...Sunni figure Maliki could court is Sheik Abdul Sittar, the leader of the tribal alliance in Anbar province. Maliki has offered a tentative embrace of Sittar's "Awakening" movement, in which Sittar banded together tribal leaders in Anbar to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq alongside the Americans. Few other Sunni leaders on the political stage in Iraq now hold as much sway as Sittar, who has made no secret of his desire to take on a larger leadership role in the country. A formal political alliance between Sittar and Maliki would leave little room in the political sphere for Sunnis...
...Maliki appears resigned to reconciling with Tawafiq, striking a conciliatory tone in his most recent public statements while Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, held talks with the Prime Minister and Sunni leaders aimed at finding compromises that could allow the old government to reform...