Baghdad
Shiite and Kurdish parties this week agreed in principle to form a coalition government. The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish bloc were the two biggest winners in the January elections. Under their agreement, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite who leads the Islamic Dawa party, will become prime minister and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be president. Both groups said they planned to include Sunnis in the Cabinet and would consider a Sunni as parliament speaker. Sunnis, who make up 20 percent of the population, were the favored group under Saddam Hussein, but most of them boycotted the election.
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