This week's announcement of a partial recount of votes cast in last month's national elections has only added to tensions over the composition of the next Iraqi government, writes Salah Hemeid With no sign of the crisis over forming a new Iraqi government easing, a panel on Monday ordered a partial recount of the votes cast in last month's national elections, further inflaming tensions that many fear could turn violent, with rival leaders taking their maneuverings to neighbouring countries in order to solicit help to end the dispute. Also on Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki announced the killings of Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, the two top leaders of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The announcement, made at a televised press conference, was apparently designed to give the incumbent Iraqi leader an opportunity to boast of a severe blow to the Al-Qaeda network and a major victory for the Iraqi security forces. The United States immediately confirmed the killings and the US vice-president, Joe Biden, hailed the deaths as a potentially "devastating" blow against Al-Qaeda. "The Iraqis led this operation, and it was based on intelligence the Iraqi security forces themselves developed following their capture of a senior Al-Qaeda leader last month," Biden said in a statement. Al-Maliki scored a second victory when an Iraqi court ordered a partial recount of the votes cast in last month's elections. The recount of votes cast in the capital, Baghdad, could reverse last month's narrow victory of the Iraqiya Coalition, led by former prime minister Iyad Allawi, over Al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition, which won 89 seats in the new parliament, compared with 91 for Allawi. The recount was ordered after Al-Maliki complained that the 7 March elections had been marred by irregularities and had filed a legal challenge that resulted in the recount. The decision was immediately hailed by Al-Maliki's followers as a victory, these hoping that the recount will change the results of the election in their favour. However, the recount, which will be done by hand and could take at least a week to conduct, has already further inflamed tensions that many Iraqis fear could turn violent as the United States prepares to withdraw most of its combat troops before September. The disputed results of the election have already further complicated what was anticipated to be an arduous, months-long effort to elect a prime minister who would be able to lead the government for the next four years, end the Sunni-Shia divide, and start rebuilding a country devastated by seven years of violence and sectarian turmoil. Yet, with Al-Maliki now edging closer to the premiership all that seems in doubt, and the Sunni-dominated bloc led by Allawi has warned that violence could erupt if its victory is overturned. "If this happens, there will be very big problems in the country," Allawi said in an interview before Monday's ruling. Sunni insurgents have already sought to exploit uncertainty over the election results, carrying out sporadic bombings and other attacks in an apparent effort to aggravate long-running feuds among Iraq's sectarian groups. This raises the question of how Al-Maliki will use his recent political and security gains to deal with Sunni insurgent groups that have shown an ability to change tactics and launch new and deadly attacks despite repeated strikes against their leadership. This week's death of the two Al-Qaeda leaders is possibly the most significant blow against these groups since the beginning of the insurgency and a sign of the growing strength and confidence of the Iraqi security forces. Al-Masri, the declared national leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, took over the organisation in the country after its Jordanian-born founder, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, was killed in a June 2006 US air-strike. Al-Baghdadi is the self-described leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq. News of the recount and of the deaths of the Al-Qaeda leaders came as Iraqi political leaders remained in deadlock over forming a government since March's inconclusive elections. In a bid to position himself as a peacemaker and as front-runner to lead the country, Al-Maliki pledged in an interview on Saturday that Iraqi Sunnis would be major players in his next government and invited Allawi's bloc to join him in governing. However, neither maneuvering nor blood on the streets of Baghdad seems to be bringing a compromise any closer, and as a result feuding Iraqi politicians are now taking their bickering to neighbouring countries that are widely seen as having stakes in Iraq's simmering crisis. Several key Iraqi politicians, including the Kurdish president of the country, Jalal Talabani, his Sunni vice- president, Tariq Al-Hashimi, and the leader of the Shia Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq, Amar Al-Hakim, visited Saudi Arabia last week for consultations with King Abdullah and other senior officials. Their visit followed a visit to Riyadh by representatives of the Sadrist Movement loyal to radical Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The visits drew criticism from leaders of Al-Maliki's bloc, who accused the Saudis of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs. It has been speculated that Saudi Arabia is using its huge wealth in order to buy favour with some Iraqi groups and to counterbalance Iran's influence in the country and help bring a friendly government to Baghdad. Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal denied the charges and insisted that Saudi Arabia maintained "the same distance from all Iraqi politicians." The country "supports all Iraqis, and Iraq's unity, independence and sovereignty over its territory," he said. In the light of these visits, it was little wonder that a delegation from Allawi's coalition led by Iraqi Sunni deputy prime minister Rafea Al-Issawi later visited Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders, including speaker of parliament Ali Larijani and national security advisor Said Jalili. Leaders of the Allawi bloc had earlier expressed their resentment of Iranian influence in Iraq and scoffed at Shia leaders who had gone to Tehran for talks on the elections with Iranian officials. Jalili said that Iran "supports the process of political development in Iraq and regards as positive the participation of various groups, parties and tribes in that country's parliamentary elections." However, despite the diplomatic language it is easy to appreciate how the two regional powers are using the Iraqi visits to get their messages across. The forming of Iraq's next government is particularly important for the country's neighbours, who want to feel that the country is run by their friends and not their enemies. Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbours, who had never hidden their dismay at the Shia control of the government after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, breathed a sigh of relief when Allawi was awarded the most seats in parliament as a result of March's elections, since they hope that he will lend a pro-Arab and cross-sectarian tint to any new coalition government. Analysts have linked Allawi's visit to Riyadh and his meeting with King Abdullah on the eve of the elections with his Iraqiya bloc's narrow victory over Al-Maliki's alliance. They have also speculated that Riyadh could upgrade relations with Baghdad if Allawi's Sunni-dominated bloc is successful in forming a parliamentary majority. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Al-Maliki's Shia government, on the other hand, have been strained, with Saudi Arabia shunning Al-Maliki and refusing to establish formal diplomatic representation in Baghdad. Meanwhile, Shia Iran has not shied away from expressing its interest in seeing a Shia-dominated government in Baghdad. Days after the election results were made public, Iran hosted several Iraqi Shia leaders and emphasised its interest in boosting ties and strengthening its influence among Iraqi Shias. Seven years of political upheaval since the 2003 US-led invasion have left Iraq not only divided and disoriented, but also a battleground for its neighbours. This raises the question of whether Iraq's problems will find their solution abroad and not as a result of a national consensus that has been long eluding the country.
