Iraq Leaders May Meet Saturday to Discuss Crisis

Iraq's political leaders were set to meet on Saturday to try to end an impasse that has stymied national reconciliation efforts and left Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity government in tatters.

Maliki is under growing pressure from the United States, which is frustrated by negligible political progress while its troops are fighting and dying in intense summer heat to buy time for Iraqis to agree a real powersharing deal.

The leaders of Iraq's Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds are unlikely to agree on all or many of the thorny issues up for discussion, but the make-or-break summit is likely to show whether they can finally put aside loyalty to sect or ethnic group to work together in the national interest.

A new alliance formed by the leading Shi'ite and Kurdish parties lacks credibility because they could not persuade any Sunni Arab parties to join it, observers said.

The summit will bring together Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, Shi'ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

"There is a possibility that the meeting could happen today to discuss the political situation," Rida Jawad al-Takki, a senior member of the ruling Shi'ite Alliance, told Reuters.

Two government officials, who declined to be named, confirmed that the meeting was due to take place on Saturday, possibly at 4 pm (1200 GMT).

"This week may witness a significant step which may help in solving the problems," one of the officials said.

The summit follows a series of meetings this week which led to the formation of a new alliance between the four leading Shi'ite and Kurdish parties, a cross-sectarian voting bloc in parliament aimed, said Maliki, at "shaking the political paralysis".

ADDRESSING DEMANDS

But the four parties were unable to persuade the biggest Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, to join them, leading U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker and other observers to question the credibility of an alliance without Sunni Arabs.

The Iraqi Islamic Party is the biggest party in the Accordance Front, the Sunni Arab bloc that pulled out of Maliki's cabinet last week in protest at his failure to address their demands for a greater say in government.

"Among the issues that will be addressed today are the demands of the Accordance Front and their participation in the government. So far, we feel that their decision of leaving is not final and could be reversed," the Iraqi official said.

A long-standing Sunni Arab demand for the constitution to be amended will also be discussed, he said.

Sunni Arabs, politically dominant under Saddam Hussein, have accused Maliki's government of marginalising them and have, since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 toppled Saddam, formed the backbone of the insurgency.

Recently though, a number of tribal sheikhs have formed an alliance with the government against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, a move that has helped to pacify restive Anbar province in Western Iraq, once the most dangerous region for U.S. troops.

Washington hopes that drawing Sunni Arabs more firmly into the political process and addressing their grievances will help ease sectarian tensions that have, by the most conservative count, killed tens of thousands and made millions hopeless.

It has urged Maliki to pass laws on sharing oil revenues and easing restrictions on former members of Saddam's Baath party serving in the army or civil service.

But Maliki has lost nearly half his cabinet since April: the Accordance Front and Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement have pulled out their ministers, and ministers loyal to former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi are boycotting meetings.