May 22, 2006
After five months of negotiations following December's general elections Iraq's parliament has approved a new government, including members of the main Shia, Kurd and Sunni parties. The defence and interior remain unfilled, and no head of national security has been appointed. Here is the full list of ministers.
NOURI MALIKI (SHIA) – PRIME MINISTER & ACTING INTERIOR MINISTER
Mr Maliki is a stalwart of the Dawa party, the Shia political group that for years led an armed underground resistance to the secular Baathist leadership of Saddam Hussein. Mr Maliki fled the country in 1980 and eventually finding refuge in Syria, returning after Saddam Hussein's overthrow.
BARHAM SALIH (KURD) - DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER & ACTING NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER
An official of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan since 1998, Mr Salih became prime minister of the PUK-led regional government in January 2001. He survived an assassination attempt at his home in April 2002. He joined the Iraqi transitional government in June 2004 as deputy prime minister for security affairs.
SALAM ZAUBAI (SUNNI) - DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER & ACTING DEFENCE MINISTER
Mr Zaubai's political group is part of the main Sunni coalition, the Iraqi Accordance Front. Although from a well-known tribe, he has not been high profile. He heads the Agriculture Engineers Union.
HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI (SHIA) - OIL MINISTER
Dr Hussein Shahristani, a Shia nuclear scientist, was once director of research at the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission. Whilst director he was imprisoned for possessing a subversive leaflet condemning the repression of Iraqi Shias. He fled Iraq in 1991 after being imprisoned for refusing to work in Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme and worked for human rights organisations in Iran and London thereafter.
HOSHIYAR ZEBARI (KURD) - FOREIGN MINISTER
Mr Zebari was the foreign spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party for more than 10 years. He frequently represented the KDP in meetings with US State Department officials throughout the 1990s. He was born in 1953 in the Kurdish town of Aqrah, but grew up in the mainly Arab city of Mosul. He is a graduate of the University of Essex in the UK.
HASHIM AL-SHEBLI (SUNNI) - JUSTICE MINISTER
Previously appointed human rights minister, he rejected the post after being approved by parliament on 8 May, saying he had not been consulted.
OTHER MINISTERS
Ali al-Shemari (Shia) - Health Minister
Khudayer al-Khuzaie (Shia) - Education Minister
Bayan Jabr (Shia) - Finance Minister
Abed Falah al-Sudani (Shia) - Trade Minister
Karim Waheed (Shia) - Electricity Minister
Fawzi al-Hariri (Kurd) - Industry Minister
Latif Rashid (Kurd) - Water Resources Minister
Bayan Dazee (Kurd) - Housing and Construction Minister
Yarrub Nazim (Shia) - Agriculture Minister
Abed Theyab (Sunni) - Higher Education Minister
Karim Mahdi (Shia) - Transport Minister
Abdul-Samad Rahman (Shia) - Migration Minister
Adel al-Assadi (Shia) - Minister of State for Civil Society Affairs
Safa al-Safi (Shia) - Minister of State for House of Representatives' Affairs
Jassim Mohammed Jaafar (Shia) - Youth and Sports Minister
Liwa Semeism (Shia) - Minister of State for Tourism and Archaeology Affairs
Ali Baban (Sunni) - Planning and Development Cooperation Minister
Mohammed Twafiq (Shia) - Communications Minister
Mahmoud Mohammed al-Radhi (Shia) - Labour and Social Affairs Minister
Riyad Gharib (Shia) - Municipalities and Public Works Minister
Narmin Othman (Kurd) - Environment Minister
Assad Kamal Mohammed (Kurd) - Culture Minister
Fatin Abdel-Rahman (Sunni) - Minister of State for Women's Affairs
Saad Tahir Abid (Sunni) - Minister of State for Provincial Affairs
Raed Fahmi (Sunni) - Science and Technology Minister
Wijdan Mikaeil (Christian) - Human Rights Minister
Rafaa al-Esawi (Sunni) - Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Akram al-Hakim (Shia) - Minister of National Dialogue
Mohammed Abbas Auraibi (Shia) - Minister of State
Ali Mohammed Ahmed (Kurd) - Minister of State
Hassan Rhadi Khazim (Shia) - Minister of State
More Information on Leaders and Occupiers in Post-War Iraq
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