Iraqi leaders scramble for solution but protesters undeterred

BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces killed one protester and wounded more than 50 on Thursday as tens of thousands resumed mass demonstrations to demand an end to the sectarian power-sharing system they blame for endemic corruption and economic hardships.

More than 250 people have been killed in clashes with security forces and pro-government paramilitary groups since protests began on Oct. 1 and eventually swelled into the worst mass unrest in Iraq since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein.

Iraq's leaders scrambled on Thursday to produce a solution to the mounting protests demanding, among other things, the ouster of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi; but Iraqi president Barham Saleh said Thursday that Abdel Mahdi is ready to resign only if parliament's main blocs can agree on his replacement.

"The prime minister had previously agreed to submit his resignation, if the blocs agree on an acceptable replacement in order to adhere to constitutional and legal frameworks," Saleh said in a live televised address. Such a consensus would "prevent a constitutional vacuum," he said.

According to Iraq's 2005 constitution, the prime minister can be put to a vote of no confidence based on a request by either the president or lawmakers. It does not address what happens if the premier resigns.

Abdel Mahdi, despite promising reforms and a broad reshuffle of his cabinet, has struggled to address protesters' demands. He has previously refused calls for an early election made by his erstwhile main supporter, populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Saleh pledged to hold early elections as soon as a new voting law and overnight commission was agreed, but his speech did not appear to impress demonstrators.

'Part of the solution'

Demonstrations first erupted on October 1 over corruption and unemployment and have since ballooned, with protesters now insisting on a government overhaul.

Their demands have been backed by Sadr, whose parliamentary bloc Saeroon has been gathering support to force the premier to come in for questioning.

Abdel Mahdi has so far resisted, saying one condition for his appearance would be that the session be televised.

Lawmakers met Thursday for a fourth consecutive day and agreed to broadcast any session live, with Saeroon MPs chanting: "Adel must come! Adel must come!"

The MPs met as the executive branch, too, tried to find a political solution, with Saleh holding closed-door talks on the premier's ouster with Iraq's main political figures.

But protesters appeared undeterred after Saleh's televised address following the day's consultations.

"Barham's speech is just an opiate for the masses," said Haydar Kazem, 49. "Abdel Mahdi's resignation isn't a solution, it's part of the solution. The problem is with the ruling parties, not with Abdel Mahdi."

Across the country's Shiite-majority south, demonstrators came out in force on Thursday despite efforts to quell them with curfews, tear gas or live fire.

The southern city of Diwaniyah saw its largest rallies yet: students, teachers, farmers and health workers hit the streets as government offices remained closed.

And in Basra, demonstrators cut off a main road leading to the Umm Qasr port, its authorities said, one of the main import zones for food and other supplies into Iraq.

In the capital Baghdad, crowds occupied the emblematic Tahrir Square for the eighth consecutive day.

"We're tired of the whole situation over the past 16 years. The country went from bad to worse," said Salwa Mezher, a middle-aged woman protesting with the Iraqi flag around her shoulders.

'Let them leave'

Since the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraq's political system has been gripped by clientelism, corruption and sectarianism.

Getting a job in government, the country's biggest employer, is often secured with bribes or connections.

One in five Iraqis live below the poverty line and youth unemployment stands at 25 percent, despite the vast oil wealth of OPEC's second-largest crude producer.

That inequality has been a rallying cry for protesters.

"Our problem isn't just with Adel Abdel Mahdi, it's with them all," said Mezher, before adding a refrain popularised in this month's protests: "Weed them all out!"

The protests are unique in Iraq's recent history for their fury at the entire leadership, even typically revered clerics.

"We don't want them, so let them leave. We also don't want the clerics - they have no business in politics," said Hoda, a 59-year-old in a headscarf and sunglasses.

Overnight, demonstrators had piled on the pressure on two bridges leading from Tahrir into the Green Zone.

The enclave, where government buildings and foreign embassies are based, has boosted security measures in response to protests.

Crowds packed onto the bridges on Thursday, setting up their own barricades to face off against riot police trying to hold them off with tear gas.

Throughout the night, blasts from tear gas canisters and stun grenades rang out from the area.

Late on Wednesday, a rocket attack hit a checkpoint near the US embassy, killing one Iraqi military member and wounding others, security sources said.

'Trapped, dependent'

The protests rocked Baghdad and the south for six days at the start of the month, then resumed on October 24 after a more than two-week lull.

Since resuming, the rallies and ensuing violence have left at least 100 people dead and 5,500 wounded, the Iraqi Human Rights Commission said.

The number brings the toll since October 1 to 257 dead and more than 10,000 wounded.

Abdel Mahdi, 77, came to power a year ago through a tenuous partnership between Sadr - who heads the largest bloc in parliament - and Hadi al-Ameri, who leads an alliance of Iran-backed Shiite militia fighters that holds the second-largest amount of seats.

That alliance has frayed in recent months, and Sadr threw his weight behind the protests while Ameri and his allies backed the government.

Early elections cannot be held until a new electoral law is passed, Saleh said on Thursday, adding that he expected a bill to be introduced in the Baghdad parliament by next week.

Abdel Mahdi said on Tuesday it would be quicker if Sadr and Ameri agreed on a replacement, and would prevent months of chaos.

It took more than six months of negotiations before Abdel Mahdi was appointed a year ago and finding a replacement all blocs can agree to will not be easy.

A rapprochement built on Abdel Mahdi's ouster appeared close on Tuesday night, but the disagreements over who could replace him seemed to have slowed down the process.

Any candidate would have to be "presentable to the parliament and accepted by the streets," said Maria Fantappie, an expert at the International Crisis Group.

"A consensus candidate with a technocratic background? We know the ending of that story," said Fantappie, referring to Abdel Mahdi's rocky tenure.

"He will once again be trapped and dependent on these two blocs, and it will bring the same kind of discontent in the streets."