Iraq will hold a meeting of its newly elected National Assembly in 10 days with or without a new government, the deputy prime minister said Sunday, hoping to instill a sense of order amid the daily violence.

Five weeks after elections, the lack of agreement between leading parties over who will lead the new government has fanned fears the unrest of insurgents will spiral unchecked.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said he hoped politicians would end horse-trading over top posts before the meeting.

"The meeting will be on March 16 and we agreed to continue meetings (on a government) and hope to reach an agreement by then," Salih said.

"If we don't reach an agreement then the National Assembly will begin its work and discussions will continue inside the assembly."

The main point of contention between the three leading parties is who will be prime minister.

A Shi'ite alliance which won a slim parliamentary majority in the January 30 polls, gaining power after decades of Sunni Arab domination under Saddam Hussein, has chosen Ibrahim Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister.

Present interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is also bidding to keep his job.

Both have launched a charm offensive with the Kurds who, having come second in the elections, can make or break a deal.

Hung parliament

The powerful Kurdish coalition said on Saturday that it would not back the Shi'ite alliance unless assured there would be no imposition of an Islamic fundamentalist state.

Earlier Ali al-Lami, spokesman for the Shi'ite Political Council, part of the Shi'ite bloc, said the Kurds were demanding guarantees such as clarifying the status of the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk.

But with talks running for weeks, politicians have voiced fears of a hung parliament, with Allawi running the country in a caretaker role until a compromise is found.

Many Iraqis fear this could send a signal of weakness to Sunni Arab insurgents bent on bringing down the US-backed interim government and stalling efforts to form the new cabinet.

For all parties, a balance of sectarian interests is crucial to boost the government's legitimacy after many Sunni Arabs boycotted the polls or were too afraid to vote.

The 20 percent Sunni Arab minority has little representation in Iraq's new parliament, fuelling an insurgency in Sunni areas.

The US military said yesterday 400 suspected terrorists had been detained in Anbar province, a Sunni Arab dominated region where several areas are controlled by insurgents.

"Our forces, in conjunction with Iraqi security forces, will maintain enhanced operations to continue to keep the pressure turned up on the insurgency," said Major General Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division.

(China Daily March 7, 2005)