BASRA, May 5: The retired US general running Iraq, Jay Garner, on Monday named five top opposition leaders who have been meeting US officials as likely to form a core Iraqi government in the next few weeks.

“The five opposition leaders have begun having meetings and they are going to bring in leaders from inside Iraq and see if we can’t form a nucleus of leadership as we enter into June,” he said.

The five met Zalmay Khalilzad last week, the White House envoy who has been helping direct US efforts on Iraq’s political future after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Many Iraqis insist they will not accept a government dictated by the United States and it remains unclear how such a core would evolve into a full government to represent Iraq’s many religious, tribal and ethnic groups.

Jay Garner named Massoud Barzani from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Jalal Talabani of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim from the Supreme Assembly for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress and Iyad Allawi of the Iraqi National Accord.

He said the group could be expanded, adding: “I think what you may see is as many as seven, eight, nine leaders working together to provide leadership.”

He said he did not know how that group would function internally. The United States has not said when it would be prepared to hand over control of Iraq to a new government.

But many Iraqis are angry at the lack of leadership in the aftermath of President Saddam’s fall. There are dire shortages of food, water and electricity, and a lack of security, across the country.

“The month of May is a key month for getting all the public services stood up or at least with a good prospect of being stood up and getting the law enforcement system back,” Garner said.

Iraqis from across the political spectrum met the US official last month and agreed to hold a national congress this month to lay out the basics of a future Iraqi government. But there were sharp splits over how long the United States should stay in the country. —AFP