Iraq's Sunni Arab bloc rejoins government

By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc rejoined the Shi'ite-led government on Saturday in a breakthrough for national reconciliation after parliament approved its candidates for several vacant ministerial posts.

Getting the Accordance Front to return after it quit a year ago in a row over power sharing has been seen as key to healing divisions between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Sunni Arabs have little voice in the current cabinet, which is dominated by Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds.

"Today, parliament voted to accept our candidates ... This means the Accordance Front has officially returned to the government," a senior lawmaker in the bloc, Salim al-Jubouri, told Reuters after the vote.

"It is a real step forward for political reform."

Jubouri, who is also the bloc's spokesman, said the Front's approved candidates would attend the next cabinet meeting.

Parliament questioned candidates for 10 vacant cabinet jobs, including five ministries and a deputy prime ministerial post that had previously been allocated to the Accordance Front.

The other portfolios were left largely vacant when separate Shi'ite and secular factions quit Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government last year. They will be filled by politicians from other parties.