Negotiations to try to break the political impasse between the two largest parties in Iraq collapsed yet again in mid-August, even as the USA proceeded to bring its combat mission in the country to an end in line with the schedule ordered by President Barack Obama.
Talks between the mainly Sunni Iraqiya alliance, led by Ayad Allawi, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led State of Law Coalition broke down on 16 August, whereupon Allawi said he would intensify talks with the radical Shi’ite movement headed by Moqtada al-Sadr. The Sadrists won around 40 seats in the March elections and have been looking to play a role in the next government. Although each of the two leading groupings has around 90 seats, neither of them has yet been able to muster the 163 needed to hold a majority in the parliament.
The outgoing US ambassador, Christopher Hill, expressed confidence that a government could still be formed with Sunnis, Shi’ites and Kurds working together, but the political deadlock appeared to have contributed to an upsurge in extremist violence in recent months. Government officials said that more people died in unrest in July than in any month since May 2008.
By the end of August, the number of US forces in the country had been reduced to 50,000, down sharply from 144,000 when Obama took office in January 2009.
