Allawi named Iraqi prime minister in surprise move

6.00pm - By TOM PERRY

BAGHDAD - Iyad Allawi, a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party who worked with the CIA to topple him, has been chosen as prime minister of Iraq in an announcement that caught US and UN officials off guard.

The US-selected Iraqi Governing Council agreed by consensus on Friday to name Allawi to take over from US-led occupation authorities on June 30 and lead his country to its first free elections next year.

UN and US officials in New York and in Washington questioned whether UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, charged with fashioning the Iraqi interim government, was part of the decision-making process.

"It's not how we expected it to happen," chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York.

But Eckhard said that "Mr Brahimi respects the decision and is prepared to work with this person on the selection of the other posts in this interim government."

UN sources said the names of an interim president and two vice-presidents could be announced as early as this weekend.

Allawi, a long-exiled neurologist and businessman from Iraq's long-oppressed majority Shi'ite community, will be joined in the 30-member interim government by Sunni Muslims, Kurds and representatives of Iraq's other minorities.

Brahimi has been in Iraq for the past three weeks consulting with Iraqi factions and the provisional authority on the composition of the new government due to take over when the Governing Council is dissolved at the end of June.

Eckhard told reporters that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also respected the choice of Allawi and the word "respect" had been "carefully chosen".

"I assume this choice will hold, but the process isn't over yet," he said. "Let's wait to see what the Iraqi street has to say about this name."

Brahimi would now sit down with Allawi and discuss the other names that had emerged from his consultations, with an eye to choosing candidates for president, vice president and a cabinet, and this process could quickly wrap up over the next few days, UN officials said.

Brahimi was not expected to return to New York from Iraq for another week or 10 days to brief the Security Council on the new government's composition.

The choice of Allawi appeared to surprise the Bush administration, which is struggling to find a credible Iraqi leadership as it tries to end deadly attacks that have derailed efforts to stabilise the country in the year since the US-led invasion.

Asked if he could confirm Allawi would be the new prime minister, Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters early on Friday, "We have no position on any candidate at this moment because we are waiting to hear from Ambassador Brahimi and he needs time to complete his work."

Six hours after the announcement, an official in US President George W. Bush's administration said: "We thought (Allawi) would be an excellent prime minister... I think that this is going to work."

While saying that Allawi was "acceptable" to the most influential Shi'ite, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the senior US official was careful to make clear Allawi was not a choice the United States was imposing on Iraqis.

"The United States did not pick anybody as its candidate," the official said. "But when we saw the political momentum that he was generating day-by-day as we went through this week, we thought more about it and thought that he would be an excellent prime minister."

Some Iraqi leaders and countries like France and Russia are pushing to amend a US- and British-sponsored resolution to strengthen the interim government's powers, notably over US-led forces in Iraq.

The main challenge Allawi faces will be holding elections in January. Iraq is riven with religious and ethnic tensions, has no tradition of democracy and is beset by violence from armed militias and guerrillas.

Some Iraqis were initially sceptical of the choice of Allawi. "I know nothing about him. He lived abroad as an exile. We need someone who lived here who can pull Iraq out of a crisis," said a Baghdad hotel manager, complaining of daily violence.

Allawi, born in 1945, spent many years abroad after turning against Saddam. In 1990 he formed the Iraqi National Accord, a party backed by the CIA and British intelligence.

Iraqi secret police were sent to assassinate him at his home in the London suburb of Kingston in 1978 when he struck up a relationship with the British secret service, according to a book by Iraq specialists Andrew and Patrick Cockburn.

Axe-wielding Saddam agents burst into his bedroom as he and his wife slept but fled when his father-in-law appeared.

As the June 30 formal handover of sovereignty approaches, US-led occupation authorities have tried to quell Sunni and Shi'ite uprisings by reaching peace deals in flashpoint cities.

Five Iraqis were killed and 14 wounded in clashes on Friday between US troops and Shi'ite militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr around the southern holy city of Najaf. Two US soldiers were also wounded.

On Thursday, the US military announced a suspension of offensive operations against Sadr's men in Najaf after he offered a truce.

US officials, eager to calm the situation before handing over sovereignty, played down the clashes and said they were hopeful the cease-fire would hold.

(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Najaf, Evelyn Leopold in New York and Caren Bohan in Washington)

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq