Rice, Straw in Iraq to break govt deadlock

BAGHDAD, Apr 2 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a surprise visit to Baghdad today to press Iraqi leaders to form a new government and avert a civil war.

The visit came a day after members of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's ruling Shi'ite Alliance bloc broke ranks publicly and joined calls for him to step down to improve chances of ending political paralysis.

''The fact that we're going out to have these discussions with the Iraqi leadership is a sign of the urgency which we attach to a need for a government of national unity,'' Rice told reporters who travelled with the two ministers from Britain.

US and Iraqi officials say a unity government, more than three months after December's election, is vital to averting all-out war after five weeks of spiralling sectarian bloodshed.

Rice arrived in Baghdad with Straw, a day after visiting his home region in northwest England.

The two were due to hold talks with Jaafari, who refuses to stand aside, and other leaders including President Jalal Talabani, a British official said. US officials make little secret of doubts about Jaafari's ability to unite and lead Iraq.

Straw said, ''We're committed to Iraq, but we need to see progress and that is in everybody's interest.'' Their efforts follow a visit last month by leading US senators who urged Iraq's fractious politicians to bury their differences and reach agreement.

''This is in many ways a time of testing for the Iraqi nation and for the Iraqi people. They need a government that can act on their behalf in this time of testing,'' said Rice.

MOVE The move against Jaafari, declared publicly by one leader and echoed, anonymously, by others came as parties held their latest round of talks on Saturday on a grand coalition with Kurds and Sunnis, who are adamant in their rejection of Jaafari.

Although Iraqi officials said they had reached a deal on forming a national security committee designed to share out more responsibilities among Iraq's feuding sects, there were no tangible signs of progress on the personnel of a new government.

That cannot happen, officials say, until there is accord on a prime minister -- unlikely to happen while Jaafari remains.

US and British officials worry that the paralysis will widen a political vacuum and fuel violence that is becoming more complex as Iraqis wait for their first full-term government since the US and British invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Sunni insurgents, Shi'ite militias and criminal gangs are all overlapping, deepening the country's security crisis.

US VIEW A US diplomat reiterated it was Washington's ''analysis'' that Jaafari had not scored well on two key criteria for prime minister -- his ability to unite Iraqis and his competence as a leader. But, he stressed to reporters: ''We have no preference.'' He denied comments from rival Shi'ite leaders that President George W Bush had directly asked them to drop Jaafari.

''I call on Jaafari to take a courageous step and set a fine example by stepping down,'' Kasim Daoud, a senior member of the independent group within the Alliance, told Reuters yesterday.

A top aide to Jaafari immediately rejected the call.

Jaafari won the Alliance nomination in an internal ballot in February by a single vote over the candidate of the bloc's most powerful party, aided by Iranian-backed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

But senior Alliance officials, speaking anonymously, said four of seven main groups within the bloc now wanted him to give up the nomination for a second term if, as is all but certain, he fails within a day or two to persuade Sunni and Kurdish parties to drop their refusal to serve in a cabinet under him.

The United States, anxious for calm that would let it start pulling out its troops, has stepped up pressure for a coalition seen as critical to stemming sectarian violence that has killed hundreds since a major Shi'ite shrine was bombed a month ago.

Privately, rival Alliance leaders have been turning against Jaafari but the call on Saturday was their first public stand against Jaafari, who critics say has failed to stem violence and bolster the economy in his year as interim prime minister.

Some also view the soft-spoken Islamist physician's reliance on the Iranian-backed Sadr with suspicion.

Dozens of Jaafari supporters took to the streets in Baghdad on Saturday, holding a mock funeral with a coffin labelled ''Democracy''.

REUTERS PV KP1437