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Baghdad: Iraq's main Sunni Arab political bloc said on Wednesday it had suspended talks to rejoin the Shiite-led government after a disagreement with Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki over a cabinet post.
Persuading the bloc to rejoin has been a main aim of US policy in Iraq and is widely seen as a vital step in reconciling the country's factions after years of conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in a cabinet dominated by Shiites and Kurds.
The breakdown in talks could undermine Washington's efforts to prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to Iraq's government at a conference in Sweden this week as a way of countering Shiite Iran's growing influence in Iraq.
"We have suspended negotiations with the government and pulled out our candidates," said Salim Al Jibouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front. He said the decision was taken after Maliki objected to a candidate for a cabinet position.
Arab detainees
The Accordance Front pulled out of Al Maliki's national unity government in August, demanding the release of mainly Sunni Arab detainees in Iraq's jails and calling for a greater say in security matters.
Jibouri said the Accordance Front drew up a list of candidates for six cabinet posts to hand to the government but Al Maliki rejected the nomination for the Planning Ministry.
Ali Al Adeeb, an MP and senior member of Maliki's Dawa Party, played down the suspension.
"I don't think this will lead to the total withdrawal of the Accordance Front from the government," he told Reuters.
Since becoming prime minister in May 2006, Al Maliki has faced constant criticism from Iraq's minority Sunni Arab community that he has promoted the interests of the majority Shiites ahead of the country's other sectarian and ethnic groups.
He is under pressure to hold together several sides in Iraq's complex conflict, a bubbling cauldron of sectarian violence, a Sunni insurgency, Al Qaida and tens of thousands of impoverished Shiite gunmen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada Al Sadr.
Al Maliki won praise from Iraq's Sunni Arab politicians after launching a crackdown on Shiite fighters claiming allegiance to Sadr in Baghdad and the southern oil city of Basra in late March.
Gaining the backing of Iraq's Sunni-ruled neighbours could help Maliki strengthen his government.
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