Iraqi cabinet named

Tuesday, 2 September 2003 5:54 AM

Iraq's US-backed Governing Council on Monday listed the inaugural 25-strong post-Saddam cabinet.

The cabinet will be divided into 25 ministries with power sharing a key factor bridging together the country's ethnic and religious groups.

The Shia majority will have the largest share of ministerial posts.

13 ministries will go to Shia Muslims, five to Sunni Muslims, five to Kurds, and one each for Turkmen and Christians.

In the interim, each ministry will be shadowed by coalition-appointed advisors, most of whom are Americans. Elections will be held next year.

The naming of the new ministers was delayed after Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia cleric, was killed in the massive bomb explosion in Najaf.

The funeral march for Ayatollah Hakim continued yesterday on its three-day journey towards the cleric's final resting place.

Hoshyar Zebari of the Kurdistan Democratic Party was named as Iraq's foreign minister.

Nori al-Badran, a Shia and member of the CIA-backed Iraqi National Accord, was handed the new interior minister, which oversees Iraq's 30,000 policemen.

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