July 30, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424

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BAGHDAD, July 29: Iraq’s US-appointed Governing Council agreed on Tuesday that the presidency of the self-rule body would rotate among nine of its members, ending two weeks of heated discussion over who should be in charge.

A source at the Council said the decision, which was taken after a six-hour meeting, reflected the members’ “wish to share responsibilities in this sensitive period”.

Choosing a leader was supposed to be one of the first tasks of the Council, which held its first meeting on July 13 and is seen in Washington as a first step towards a democratic government in Iraq following the war to topple Saddam Hussein.

But members took more than two weeks to decide.

“The Council formed a collective leadership of nine members who will rotate presidency,” said Hoshiyar Zebari, political adviser to Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party and one of the 25 Council members.

“We discussed a number of proposals in a civilised and free way and we all agreed on this compromise formula.”

Mr Zebari said the rotation period and order would be decided in the coming days. —Reuters