United Nations Expresses Happiness Over Appointment of Iraqi Shiite Politician Iyad Allawi - 2004-05-29

The United Nations expressed pleasure over the appointment of Iraqi Shiite politician Iyad Allawi by the Iraqi Governing Council as the first Prime Minister of the country in the post-war period. Fred Eckhard, the spokesperson for the United Nations, stated that Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy to Iraq, is ready to cooperate with Mr. Allawi. Concurrently, with the transfer of sovereignty from the US-led coalition to the Iraqis on June 30, the interim government of Iraq will take control of the country's affairs. Officials from President Bush's administration have expressed the opinion that Mr. Allawi will be a good Prime Minister for his country. Mr. Allawi is a former opposition leader and exile from Iraq who left the country following his opposition to Saddam Hussein in the 1970s. Mr. Allawi, a neurosurgeon and businessman, previously chaired the Iraqi National Accord, an Iraqi opposition group supported by US and British intelligence agencies. Mr. Allawi survived an assassination attempt in 1978 while residing in London, with Saddam Hussein's agents being identified as responsible for the attack. In another incident, US forces and militias affiliated with the radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed on Friday in the city of Kufa near Najaf. The resumption of fighting between the two sides has rendered the status of a one-day ceasefire between them uncertain.