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The Iraqi parliament approved the new cabinet headed by Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at a special session held in Baghdad on Saturday while violence continued with 24 people killed across the country.

 

The lawmakers raised their hands to show approval to the new ministers when parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani read out their names one by one.

 

The 37-member cabinet was finally approved by the parliament while three key posts -- interior, defense and national security affairs, remained unfilled.

 

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, will be the acting interior minister temporarily while Salam al-Zigum Al-Zoubaie, new Sunni deputy prime minister, and Barham Salih, Kurdish deputy prime minister,were assigned the acting defense minister and the acting minister for the national security affairs respectively.

 

In his first speech as prime minister, al-Maliki outlined his governing program, including the formation of the national unity government with representatives of all Iraqi sects according to the December election results and national interests.

 

He also pledged to open a national dialogue and widen political participation within the framework of the constitution in a bid to build a free and democratic Iraq.

 

On the economic front, al-Maliki promised to draw a comprehensive plan for Iraq's reconstruction and development, which is to pay special attention to underdeveloped areas and basic public services including electricity supplies.

 

The plan will also encourage investment and help attract national and international capital into the country's development and reconstruction.

 

The new prime minister also vowed to regulate the key oil and gas industries by new legislation.

 

In addition, al-Maliki said that he would resort to a regional referendum to determine whether the key oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk should go to the Kurdish regional government or remain under control of the central government.

 

Meanwhile, he said that he would set "an objective timetable to let Iraqi forces take the full security responsibilities to end the mission of the US-led multinational forces." The new cabinet came into being after almost five months of bargaining among Iraqi Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders after the country's election in December 2005.

 

It is the first full-term government in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003 ousted former president Saddam Hussein.

 

While the new government was formally sworn in by parliament, violence continued across the country, underlining the tough security challenge the cabinet will have to face.

 

On Saturday morning, a makeshift bomb went off in Baghdad's Shiite-dominated Sadr City neighborhood, killing 19 people and wounding 58 others, an Interior Ministry source said.

 

"A homemade explosive charge detonated at about 7:00 AM (0300GMT) among a crowd of construction workers, who gathered to be hired for daily work, in Baghdad's Sadr City slum," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 

In the western province of Anbar, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up on Saturday inside a police station in Qaim town near the Syrian border, a police source said.

 

The attack killed five policemen and wounded 10 others, the source added.

 

Besides the task to stem out violence, the new Iraqi government will also tackle a number of other difficulties including a battered economy.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2006)