US, Britain boost pressure on fractious Iraq leaders

Baghdad, Apr 3: The United States and Britain urged Iraq's leaders today to break their political deadlock as quickly as possible to avoid civil war and take the country forward.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on a sudden and secret visit, told Iraqi leaders the political vacuum -- with no government four months after elections -- was undermining security.

''There is no doubt that the political vacuum that is there at the moment is not assisting the security situation in the country,'' Straw told a joint news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone diplomatic and government centre.

Sectarian violence has spiralled since a Shi'ite shrine was bombed on February 22 and many Iraqis and foreign governments believe the only way to put a lid on the bloodshed and avert civil war is a rainbow government of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Rice and Straw stressed foreign governments could not tell Iraqis who their prime minister should be, but that at the same time Iraq's international supporters needed to see progress.

Their very visit and the tone of their comments made it clear interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari did not meet their conditions.

Jaafari's critics and his own allies have increasingly called for him to step aside and not take up a second term, saying the Shi'ite leader cannot bring the needed unity and security.

Talks among Iraq's political leaders over forming a new government after parliamentary elections have stalled on the fate of Jaafari and details such as a Sunni demand for a security veto in any new administration.

Reuters