Ten weeks after Iraq's January elections the political stalemate comes to an end with yesterday's naming of Jalal Talabani as president. Al-Ahram Weekly interviews Iraq's first ever Kurdish head of state On Wednesday, Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), was named as Iraq's first post-election president-elect. As expected Ghazi Al- Yawar, interim president, and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, finance minister, were elected as vice-presidents. Together, the three constitute the Presidency Council in charge of approving the prime minister and his cabinet. Yesterday's session of the National Assembly, at which Talabani's election was agreed, was in strong contrast to the two previous stormy meetings of last week. The deal had been stitched up before the session began, the names of the members of the Presidency Council agreed hours before the session convened. The Presidency Council, under the Transitional Administrative Law, can veto legislation passed by the National Assembly. The move broke the weeks' long deadlock that has dogged the formation of a new government. The naming of the president and his two deputies came two days after the assembly had chosen former industry minister Hajim Al-Hassani, one of several Sunni candidates for the post, as speaker of parliament. Iraq is inching ever closer towards forming a cabinet expected to be presided over by the leader of the Shia Dawa Party, Ibrahim Al-Jafari, which will be followed by the drafting of a new constitution and, if all goes to plan, new elections in December. There are, though, some hurdles yet. The next few days will witness another round of wrangling over ministerial portfolios, with key posts, including that of minister of oil, still being competed over by candidates from the Shia and Kurdish alliances, the two largest blocks in the National Assembly. The next few days will also reveal the extent of the political will behind integrating Iraqi Sunnis within the political process. They have, as yet, secured only one cabinet seat, the Defence Ministry. Yesterday's developments followed a week in which Iraq witnessed its worst wave of violence since January's elections, including a well-coordinated attack on the notorious Abu Ghraib prison which went on for several hours and left 44 US soldiers and 13 prisoners injured, underlining the fact that improving security will be one of the most difficult challenges facing the future Iraqi government. Hours after his appointment -- Talabani will be sworn in today -- Iraq's president-elect spoke to Al- Ahram Weekly in Baghdad, and began by thanking the people of Egypt who had embraced the Kurdish national movement in the difficult years of its diaspora. He had, he said, spent two years in Egypt as a political exile, and stressed that the official Egyptian position had always been to support Iraq and its people. He remains concerned, however, that some media outlets in Egypt persist in describing the gangs that commit atrocious crimes against Iraqis as members of the "resistance". This, he argues, "is against the values of the Egyptian people and the principles of democracy". "These criminal gangs," he continued, "kill blindly. They kill children, women and old people and attack places of worship, be they Sunni, Shia or Christian." On possible Arab apprehensions over Iraq being governed by a Kurdish president Talabani sounds a conciliatory note. All Iraqis, he says, believe in Arab Kurdish brotherhood. "In the darkest days, when the Kurds were being persecuted and exterminated, it was Arab Iraqis who provided them with shelter and financial and political support. Those who survived the mass graves," he emphasised, "were given cover and embraced by Arab tribes." On Iraqi Arab relations he stresses that he has "always emphasised the importance of building on Iraq's role within the Arab League and reintegrating Iraq within the wider Arab circle, in addition to supporting the Palestinian people in their struggle to establish an independent state in accordance with international resolutions and those of different Arab summits." Resolving the ongoing Kurdish-Arab disagreement over control of the city of Kirkuk, and its valuable oil reserves, is likely to be one of the first tests of the new administration. "Kirkuk," says Talabani, "is an Iraqi city and Article 58 of the Transitional Administrative Law will form the basis of dealing with any disputes, including renaming and reuniting the province which was called Al-Tameem under Saddam." Likewise, the future role of Kurdish militias (the Peshmerge) and the prospect of their integration within the Iraqi army will also be dealt with on the basis of the Transitional Administrative Law, says Talabani. His first priority on the domestic front -- "the number one priority," he says -- "is uprooting terrorism and spreading the atmosphere of democracy and freedom that will lead to economic prosperity." The constitution to be drafted by the National Assembly must, he insists, "be based on consensus and not majority and minority dictates." "All Iraqis, be they Arabs, whether Sunnis or Shia, or Kurds, have to participate in this process." Was he planning, then, a reconciliation drive similar to that which occurred in South Africa following the end of apartheid? "Reconciliation between all those who believe in democracy and are opposed to terrorism" is his aim, he says, pointing out that Iraqis today suffer from a lack of security and all efforts must initially be directed towards rectifying that. Asked about the flag to be used in his swearing-in ceremony today, Talabani says "the present Iraqi flag is that of Saddam Hussein. In the Kurdish areas we already raise the flag of the July 1958 republic." However, he says that he will be sworn in under the present Iraqi flag, since Iraqis have not yet reached an agreement on a new flag. "It is up to the Iraqi people to collectively reach a consensus regarding the new national flag, be it that of the 1958 republic or a new one," Talabani concludes. Interview in Baghdad, Mohamed Al-Anwar; additional reporting, Omayma Abdel-Latif
