Middle East News
Iraqi Sunni party ends boycott, attends parliament session
Sep 8, 2007, 14:16 GMT
Baghdad - The Iraqi National Dialogue Front (INDF), which has 11 seats in Iraq's Council of Representatives, ended its parliamentary boycott on Saturday, declaring their 'demands met.'
The Sunni deputies attended Saturday's session after two months of boycott, according to MP and party member Mostafa al-Hiti. He said the INDF would resume its duties as a 'positive opposition force.'
The politicians had suspended their membership early July in solidarity with the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front, who walked out of the government in protest at both a probe against a Sunni culture minister and pressures on the parliament's speaker, also a Sunni, to resign.
The Accord front and its supporters from other Sunni blocs had said that the government was deliberately ignoring Sunni demands.
Meanwhile, al-Hiti told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the government had finally responded to their calls.
'Among them was allocating a monthly allowance of 150,000 dinars to families uprooted (from their home towns) inside and outside Iraq,' said al-Hiti. 'The way will be open to further discussions on oil and gas draft laws.'
Al-Hiti said that he expects the parliament to enjoy more activity in the forthcoming months 'since new coalitions and blocs will be formed.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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