Iraq Sunni Boycott of Parliament Ended

By Katie Jewison

There may be an ease finally settling into the Iraqi politics. The nearly 76 lawmaking Sunni ministers have once again returned to the cabinet on the Tuesday session. With their return thereis now a stage for a national conference to find solutions to the conflicts and suspicions of a civil war that have  erupted since the United States troops left in December. 

The boycott had first begun to protest alleged persecution of Sunni officials. The Shite-led government hadissued a warrant for arrest on the Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashemi, on terrorism charges and for allegedly running death squads. The government also attempted to fire Deputy Prime minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, for calling another official “a dictator in the press”. Since the Sunni’s backed their officials,the group agreed to leave parliament, which produced a standstill in Iraq’s politics. With surges in violence and nearly 200 people killed this month,there had been a political crisis with fears of civil war arising. Since these fears had been arising the Sunni came back into parliament under the conditions of leaving Hashemi’s conflict to the courts and also having Mutlaq apologizefor the statement he had made.

Since the parliament is now all back on board the country can now take a step toward in resolving its crisis. President Talabani, a Kurd, has been in the process of setting parameters for anational conference that could happen within the coming weeks. This conference could help the three main factions--Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds--to at start topaper through differences, which will help to prevent a collapse of government and possible, a slide into a civil war. This conference is going to be a big step for the Iraqi government and hopefully bring them one step closer to resolving there issues.

Here are some links to the newspaper articles: New York Times and The Washington Post