BAGHDAD, May 12: Backroom rows over key economic jobs in a new Iraqi government broke into the open on Friday when a small Shia party said it pulled out of negotiations altogether and accused the US ambassador of interfering.

With 10 days left of the month allowed to him to present a cabinet to parliament, Prime Minister-designate Nuri al Maliki is facing major headaches from within his own camp as Shia rivals battle for control of oil and other ministries.

The Fadhila party, from the Alliance bloc that has a near-majority in parliament, announced it would sit out the coalition talks. But a senior party official later said the decision was not final, and Fadhila was still hoping to secure key posts. It currently runs the oil ministry.

The Fadhila move may, however, indicate a greater chance Hussain al Shahristani, favourite of other Alliance parties, will be named oil minister. A nuclear physicist tortured and jailed by Saddam Hussein, he is a prominent Islamist politician.

Mr Shahristani’s main challenger for the oil ministry has appeared to be oil industry technocrat Thamir Ghadhban.

Mr Shahristani is a nuclear scientist by training. Tortured and imprisoned by Saddam for, he says, refusing to work on a nuclear arms programme, he was once seen as a potential prime minister.

Oil industry officials have voiced reservations about Mr Shahristani’s ability to lead the ministry, questioning his technical awareness of the oil sector.—Reuters