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In spite of an announcement that the ministers in the Iraqi National List (INL) led by former Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had withdrawn from their position, three of the cabinet members attended a regular meeting on Monday, Aswat al-Iraq reports in Arabic.
The Iraqi Council of Ministers held its regular meeting Monday, said a media source inside the council of ministers, requesting anonymity, who told the agency that “The minister of technology Ra’id Fahmi, the minister of human rights, Wijdan Mikha’il, and the minister of state, Muhammad 'Uraybi, attended the meeting of the ministers.”
Of the three INL ministers who were reported in attendance, only Mikha’il and 'Uraybi were supposed to have withdrawn from their positions. An MP from the INL had already announced that Fahmi, minister of science and technology, would not withdraw from the cabinet. Fahmi is affiliated to the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), which ran as a component of Allawi’s INL in the December 2005 elections. The ICP has not agreed withdraw its minister along with the rest of the INL cabinet members.
Muhammad Tawif Allawi, minister of communications, was not reported in attendance at Monday’s cabinet meeting. However, given the attendance of his INL colleagues, it is not known at this time if the minister has withdrawn from the Council of Ministers, or if he was absent for some other reason, such as a continuation of the “suspension” of cabinet participation.
The fifth INL minister, Hazim al-Shibli, withdrew from his post earlier in the year, citing differences with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He was minister of justice.
The appearance of the ministers who were announced earlier to have withdrawn could fuel speculation over the level of control that Allawi enjoys over the ministers in the INL bloc, or over ex-PM's intentions regarding the Maliki government.
