Ghazi Al-Yawir Appointed Iraq President

01/06/2004| IslamWeb

Sunni Muslim tribal chief Ghazi al-Yawir has been appointed as Iraq's new president, the Iraqi Governing Council has announced. Council sources said on Tuesday al-Yawir got the job after Adnan Pachachi, a candidate favoured by Washington, declined an offer to take the position. One aide to a governing council member said Pachachi and UN envoy al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi had already congratulated al-Yawir on his appointment. Govering Council member Nasyir Jaderji confirmed to Aljazeera al-Yawir had been appointed as the new President. "Shaikh Ghazi Yawar has officialy been announced the president of the republic and has started to receive congratulations from Governing Council members," said Hind al-Shnain from Yawar's office. An official ceremony to announce the new Iraqi President will be held on Tuesday afternoon, said Aljazeera correspondent in Iraq, adding that UN envoy to Iraq al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi, US Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer and Iraqi Governing Council members will attend the ceremony. Aljazeera correspondent also said Hazim al-Shaalan al-Khuzaai had been appointed as Defence Minister and Alaa al-Din Alwan had been appointed as Health Minister. **Political struggle*** The US-led occupation was enmeshed on Monday in a fierce political struggle with Iraq's Governing Council about who would become the country's first president in the post-Saddam Hussein era. Earlier, a senior occupation official told reporters the two main contenders, Pachachi and al-Yawir, had been ruled out for the largely ceremonial post. "It is completely fabricated that it is a toss-up between Yawar and Pachachi," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are looking for the president and two thirds of the new ministers to be non-Governing Council members," he said, referring to Iraq's US-installed interim leadership The occupation official accused council members of "hijacking" the process of shaping the transitional government and wanting "to keep the good jobs that they have now." **Earlier candidates*** Earlier, a Governing Council source told reporters Saad al-Janabi, an old associate of some of Saddam's relatives and former crony of the CIA, was being mentioned as a possible president. In another twist, a high-ranking Iraqi official speaking on condition of anonymity said a former army chief of staff, General Ibrahim Faysal al-Ansari, was also being touted as a candidate. Al-Ansari, who headed the Iraqi army during the 1966-1968 presidency of Abd al-Salam Arif, was expelled from his post by Saddam Hussein's Baath party in 1969 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Iraqi Governing Council chief Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer walks inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, in this Tuesday, May 18, 2004 file photo. (AP)