Shiites dominate Jaafari's draft Iraqi cabinet

IBRAHIM al-Jaafari, Iraq’s prime minister-designate, yesterday presented his draft cabinet to Jalal Talabani, the president, after three months of post-election haggling.

By The Newsroom

Published 27th Apr 2005, 01:00 BST

Under the proposal, the majority Shiites would get the largest share of 32 ministries, with the others distributed among Kurdish, Sunni and Christian factions.

If approved, parliament could vote on the list today.

Meanwhile, Italian opposition parties yesterday branded a report that cleared United States soldiers of blame for the killing of an Italian agent in Iraq an "insult" and urged the government to press for a fuller investigation.

Nicola Calipari, a military intelligence officer, died in a hail of bullets at a US checkpoint in March as he was driving to Baghdad airport with Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist, after winning her release from kidnappers.

A US army official, briefing reporters on the preliminary results of the investigation, said the soldiers had followed their rules of engagement and therefore should face no charges of dereliction of duty.

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