Iraq's Maliki Steps Aside, Backs New PM Nominee | WPN World People News

Embattled two-term Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he is stepping aside and will support his nominated replacement.

Maliki -- under enormous international pressure to step down -- announced his decision late Thursday in a nationally televised address. He pledged his full support for nominee Haider al-Abadi.

"I can say to you, the honorable Iraqi people, that I do not want any post, but my great post is your confidence in me and today I declare in front of you that in order to facilitate the political process and to form a new government, I am relinquishing my candidacy for the sake of my fellow, Mr. Haider al-Abadi, in order to save the high interest of the country," said Maliki during the address.

New Iraqi President Fouad Massoum nominated Abadi on Monday.

Maliki, a Shi'ite, has rapidly lost the support of the international community, and is widely accused of failing to unite Iraq's fractious Sunni, Kurdish and Shi'ite communities during his eight-year tenure.

The White House late Thursday praised the political development, saying Maliki's backing of nominee Abadi marks "another major step forward in uniting the country." National Security Adviser Susan Rice noted statements of global support for Abadi.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the decision. In a statement, Ban said he looks forward to the "swift formation of an inclusive, broad-based government."

The Maliki resignation comes just three days after he took to the airwaves to announce he would not accept the Abadi nomination. Maliki and his backers argued that he was entitled to the nomination for a third term by law because his political bloc is the largest in parliament.

Western governments and Iran, along with Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish parliamentary factions, have for days urged Maliki to resign.

Pressure mounted as Islamic State militants press their ongoing military onslaught in the northern and western parts of the country, with little opposition from outmanned Iraqi forces.

The U.S. Central Command said Thursday that U.S. fighter jets and drones attacked and destroyed two heavily armed vehicles operated by militants who had been firing on Kurdish forces in the north. Authorities say one of the two airstrikes targeted an armored truck thought to have been supplied by U.S. forces to the Iraqi military and later captured by militants.

The latest U.S. strikes are the second such action in as many days. President Barack Obama said the strikes have broken the militant group's siege on a northern mountain where members of Iraq's religious and ethnic minorities had sought refuge.

Obama said the situation on Mount Sinjar has greatly improved, and said he does not believe an additional operation will be needed to evacuate the refugees.

Source: Voice of America