Iraq's prime minister yesterday rejected the resignation of Cabinet ministers from the country's largest Sunni Arab bloc, and asked the six ministers to rejoin his government.

Ministers from the Iraqi Accordance Front, which also holds 44 of parliament's 275 seats, quit Nouri al-Maliki's government on Wednesday. The move left only two Sunnis in the 40-member body, casting doubt on the government's "national unity" status.

The Accordance Front said its decision to pull out of government was sealed by what it called al-Maliki's failure to respond to a set of demands: the release of security detainees not charged with specific crimes, the disbanding of militias and the participation of all groups represented in the government in dealing with security issues.

After meeting yesterday with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the prime minister signaled he was not ready to give in completely to the Front's demands. But he said the three had "agreed to exert effort to bring the brothers of the Accordance Front back to their roles."

(China Daily via agencies August 6, 2007)