BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq's main Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc is set to rejoin the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after boycotting it for nearly a year, in a boost for reconciliation efforts in the war-torn country.
Saleem Abdallah, MP and spokesman of the National Concord Front, said his group had given a list of new candidates for five of the six ministerial posts which it previously held in Maliki's cabinet.
"The prime minister has accepted the names of the candidates," Abdallah told AFP.
Last August the Sunni bloc, which has 44 MPs in the 275-member parliament, pulled its ministers from the cabinet in protest at what it viewed as the monopolisation of power by the other factions in government -- the Shiites and Kurds. One of the six rejoined the cabinet and was expelled from the bloc.
At that time the Sunni leaders also insisted that Iraqi security forces release many Sunni prisoners whom the front believed were detained unjustifiably.
Besides the release of prisoners, the front wanted a general amnesty and a greater participation of Sunnis in decisions of the government which is dominated by Shiites.
The boycott by the Sunnis dealt a severe blow to Maliki's claims that he was running a unity government.
It is unclear whether the conditions put forward by the Sunnis have been met but in the past few months relations between Maliki and the Sunni Arab leaders have warmed following the prime minister's decision to launch military assaults on Shiite militiamen.
Sunni Arab leaders had regularly accused Maliki and his government of turning a blind eye towards Shiite militiamen who allegedly kidnapped and killed members of their community since the sectarian conflict erupted in 2006.
Since March, Maliki has begun a series of crackdowns against Shiite militiamen starting in the southern oil city of Basra, in Baghdad and currently in the southern province of Maysan.
Abdallah said the list of candidates had to be approved by the parliament.
"We are waiting for the parliament to approve it," he said.
After a meeting with Maliki late on Monday, Iraqi vice president and the most senior Sunni Arab politician in the country, Tareq al-Hashemi, said there "will be good news in the next few days as a result of our talks."
Another Sunni MP Omar al-Karbuli said the talks between Hashemi and Maliki revolved around the nominations of the ministers from the Concord Front.
"The month of July would see the return of the Concord Front into the government," Karbuli told AFP.
The ministries that the candidates are expected to head are higher education, culture, minister of state for foreign affairs, minister of state for women's affairs and deputy prime minister.
A key bone of contention remains in the negotiations, however.
Iraq's Planning Minister Ali Babban who was earlier in the Concord Front had rejected the Sunni boycott and continued to work after receiving Maliki's approval.
Karbuli said the Sunnis would demand the return of the planning ministry to the bloc but do not want Babban to be the minister whom they had called a "traitor" when he refused to take part in the boycott last year.
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