Elected, now the Iraqi government must act, writes Sawsan Assaf Iraq has a new government at last. In mid-April 2005, President Jalal Talabani and two vice-presidents -- Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Ghazi Al- Yawar -- took office. Ibrahim Al- Jaafari was then asked to form the government and, due to the delicate ethnic and sectarian balance it involved, this took him over two weeks. When the new government was first announced, on 28 April 2005, 32 ministers were named (16 Shia, eight Kurds, one Christian and one Turkoman) but some cabinet portfolios remained vacant awaiting Sunni nominees. The latter were to be chosen from the ranks of the National Dialogue Council, a coalition of 31 political groups, and the Iraqi National Front, a coalition of 28 political groups. On 8 May 2005, the Sunni ministers were finally named. On 9 May, one day after the complete cabinet was in place, bombings once again rocked Iraq with nine Iraqis killed and 17 wounded as clashes continued between the occupation forces and the resistance. On Wednesday, the resistance stepped up its assaults with a wave of bomb attacks rocking four Iraqi cities, leaving at least 64 people killed and scores injured. In the deadliest blast, a car bomb went off in a busy market area in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit killing 31 and wounding 66. In the northeastern town of Hawijah, a suicide bomber wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up at an army recruitment centre killing 30 people and wounding 31. Three cars were detonated in Baghdad, killing three people and injuring nine. Also on Wednesday, 45 people were hurt -- some suffering serious burns -- in an explosion at a plant producing fertilisers near the southern Iraqi port city of Basra. The message was clear. If Al- Jaafari's government is to succeed, it will have to turn its attention to the most urgent matter in the country: security. It is conceivable that the new government would be able to tighten security at the borders with its neighbours, perhaps through legally binding bilateral agreements. And many expect it to accelerate the rehabilitation of the Iraqi army -- but this is a trickier matter. Under no circumstances should the government allow religious or sectarian militias to become part of the army. It is one thing to incorporate former members of the Iraq army, for we're talking here of professional and capable military men -- of people who have discipline and training -- and another thing to appease chieftains by letting their militia become part of the regular army. For one thing, militia don't have the discipline and training that befits the Iraqi army. For another, militia are suspected of dual loyalty, a headache Iraq doesn't need at present. Domestic issues will also be high on the agenda of the new government. The security needs are too obvious to ignore. But the Iraqis need more than security. They need bread on their tables, jobs to go to, and homes instead of those that have been wrecked or abandoned. The economy has been hit hard by the war and the continued mayhem and impoverishment of the population is playing into the hands of the saboteurs. The government will need to restore the confidence of the people first through rehabilitation of the infrastructure and then through revival of reconstruction efforts. Foreign relations are just as important for the new Iraqi government, and perhaps as pressing as domestic ones. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani made his first foray onto the world stage on Tuesday at the summit of the South American- Arab Countries in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. Talabani urged South American and Arab nations to help his country's reconstruction with investment. "We hope that this summit helps our people in their just fight," Talabani told participants at the summit. "I ask you to understand Iraq's situation. I ask you to send delegations for information, for investments, to see the truths on Iraqi territory itself," he added. Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari is also expected to visit neighbouring Turkey on 19-20 May. While Turkey supports the post-war political process in Iraq, it has several concerns that it sees directly linked to its own security. Ankara is particularly uneasy that separatist Turkish Kurd rebels who went into hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq prior to the US-led invasion are increasingly infiltrating Turkey to engage in anti- government violence. It is frustrated that no action has so far been taken against the rebels, considered as terrorists by both Turkey and the US. Ankara is also worried over the future of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by the Iraqi Kurds but also by the Turkomens, an Iraqi minority of Turkish descent. Iraq, on the other hand is seeking to regain its own voice, both in the region and the world. Iraq has to reassert itself as a nation with own diplomacy and mind, not -- as many may suspect -- a country under occupation and prone to doing the bidding of outsiders. Al- Jaafari does not have a magic wand and his government has a short-lived mandate. This is why the above tasks are particularly daunting. But the nation expects the new prime minister to do something. The nation and the world expect the new Iraqi government to act boldly and quickly.
