Report: Nasrallah Fails to Strike Sadr-Maliki Reconciliation Deal

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has failed to reconcile powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted an Iranian diplomat as saying that the efforts exerted by Nasrallah to bridge the gap between al-Sadr and al-Maliki, also a Shiite, have not yielded results.

Nasrallah has recently met with al-Sadr in Beirut in an effort to resolve the inter-Shiite conflict in Iraq.

An emergency session of Iraq's parliament descended into chaos last week, preventing a vote on a new cabinet amid a row over political blocs controlling key government posts.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called in February for change to the cabinet so that it includes technocrats.

That kicked off the latest chapter in a months-long saga of al-Abadi proposing various reforms that parties and politicians with interests in the existing system, mainly al-Maliki's supporters, have sought to delay or undermine.

Al-Sadr later took up the demand for a technocratic government, organizing a two-week sit-in that put al-Abadi under pressure to act, but also supported the course of action he wanted to take.

Sadr, the scion of a powerful clerical family, relented after al-Abadi presented his first list of nominees at the end of March, but has yet to react to the most recent developments in efforts to replace the cabinet.

G.K.

D.A.