Iraq's deputy premier called Friday for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down and warned that the country's festering political crisis risks sparking a wider sectarian conflict in the region. Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stood by an earlier charge that Iraq is becoming a new dictatorship under al-Maliki, a Shia.
He said Iraqis could eventually rise up violently if al-Maliki remains in his post, and pushed for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister if he remains in office. "The longer al-Maliki stays in power, the higher the possibility of a divided Iraq," al-Mutlaq said during an interview at his office in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone Al-Mutlaq's Sunni-backed Iraqiya party has been boycotting parliament and Cabinet meetings since last month to protest what it sees as efforts by al-Maliki to consolidate power, particularly over state security forces.
Al-Maliki's government, meanwhile, has demanded the arrest of the country's top Sunni politician, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of Iraqiya, accusing him of running a hit squad targeting government officials. Al-Hashemi denies the allegations, and remains holed up in Iraq's semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. He is staying as a guest of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and is effectively out of reach of security forces under Baghdad's control.
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