June 1, 2004
President: Ghazi Yawer
Ghazi Yawer is a civil engineer, businessman and tribal leader from the northern town of Mosul. He currently holds the rotating presidency in the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. The 45-year-old US-educated moderate Sunni and former exile has strong ties to Washington, but has been sharply critical of the coalition.
Prime Minister: Iyad Allawi
Iyad Allawi is the leader of the Iraqi National Accord, a group formed by Iraqi exiles, many former Baath Party members who had fled the country. Born in 1945 to a prominent Shia Muslim merchant family, he trained as a neurologist. Mr Allawi is seen as being historically close to the US, particularly the CIA, although he has been critical of the US-led coalition in recent months.
Vice Presidents:
Ibrahim Jaafari:
Ibrahim Jaafari is a spokesman for the Islamic Daawa Party, one of the two main Shia parties in Iraq. He is a member of the Governing Council and is also one of the members to hold the council's rotating presidency. He was born in Karbala and graduated from Mosul university.
Rowsch Shaways:
Rowsch Shaways is president of the Kurdish National Assembly and a member of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).
Ministers:
Deputy Prime Minister for National Security: Barham Saleh, prime minister of Kurdish regional government and member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Foreign Minister: Hoshyar Zebari of the KDP will stay in his current position of foreign minister. Raised in Mosul, he was KDP foreign affairs spokesman in the 1990s and represented the party in the US and UK. Educated in the UK (University of Essex) and Jordan.
Finance Minister: Adil Abdel-Mahdi, senior official in Sciri, one of the two main Shia parties.
Defence Minister: Hazem Shalan al-Khuzaei
Interior Minister: Falah Hassan al-Naqib
Minister of Oil: Thamir Ghadbhan is promoted from adviser to the Oil Ministry.
Minister of Justice: Malik Dohan al-Hassan, a Sunni Muslim, president of the Iraqi Bar Association and head of the task force on compensation for victims of the former regime.
Minister of Human Rights: Bakhityar Amin, human rights expert, born in Kirkuk, educated in France and Sweden.
Minister of Electricity: Ayham al-Samarrai, Iraqi Independent Democrats, remains in current position. A Sunni Muslim and close associate of Adnan Pachachi, he was active in the exile community in the US.
Minister of Health: Alaa Abdessaheb al-Alwan, former World Health Organisation official
Minister of Communication: Mohammed Ali Hakim, thought to be related to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of Sciri and a member of the IGC.
Minister of Housing: Omar Farouk
Minister of Public Works: Nesreen Mustafa Berwari, Harvard-educated former minister of reconstruction and development in the Kurdish regional government led by the KDP. She has also worked for the UNHCR and other UN agencies in Kurdish northern Iraq.
Minister of Science and Technology: Rashad Mandan Omar, a Sunni Muslim and a Turkmen, originally from Kirkuk, retains his current position. An engineer, he has spent the last five years working on airport construction in Dubai.
Minister of Planning: Mahdi al-Hafez, Iraqi Independent Democrats, a Shia Muslim and Iraqi ambassador to the UN 1978-80. Has has also worked in the oil ministry, as a UN regional adviser and as head of the Cairo-based Arab Economic Research Association.
Minister of Trade: Mohammed al-Joubri
Minister of Sport and Youth: Ali Faik Alghaban, a Shia Muslim and Sciri supporter
Minister of Transportation: Louei Hatim Sultan al-Aris
Minister of Provincial Affairs: Wael Abdel-Latif, Shia, elected Basra governor by interim local council in July last year, former IGC member, civil and criminal lawyer disbarred and imprisoned by Saddam Hussein.
Minister of Women's Affairs: Nermin Othman
Minister of Immigration and Refugees: Bascal Essue
Minister of Irrigation: Latif Rashid, former PUK spokesman in London, maintains his existing position.
Minister of Labour: Leila Abdul-Latif
Minister of Education: Sami Mudahfar, promoted from deputy minister, former president of Baghdad University and one of Iraq's most senior biochemists.
Minister of Higher Education: Tahir al-Bakaa
Minister of Agriculture: Sawsan Sherif, promoted from deputy minister. Educated at Baghdad and Iowa universities, she has also worked for the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Minister of Culture: Mufid Mohammad Jawad al-Jazairi, Iraqi Communist Party, Shia Muslim, maintains his existing position. Worked as a journalist for Czechoslovak radio in the 60s and 70s but returned to Iraq in the 1980s.
Minister of Industry: Hajim al-Hassani
Minister of State: Qassim Dawoud
Minister of State: Mahmoud Farhad Othman, previously leader of the Kurdish Socialist Party (Sunni Kurd) and IGC member, stood as a presidential candidate in Iraqi Kurdistan's first elections in 1992.
Minister of State: Adnan al-Janabi
More Information on Toward Iraq's Government
