BAGHDAD, April 8: Iraq’s newly appointed Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari began on Friday the process of building a cabinet which, he said, must include efficient technocrats and nationalists with a “clean history.”

Despite weeks of delay and bickering in nominating Mr Jaafari, the United States expressed hope Iraq’s political calendar, providing for a permanent constitution and definitive elections by the end of 2005, would be respected.

Mr Jaafari said on Thursday after his official appointment by the newly-sworn-in President Jalal Talabani that he would work to form a government within two weeks, although he has a month to do so.

“The ministries need efficient technocrats, nationalists with a good and clean history and team players who are comfortable working within a diverse setting,” Mr Jaafari told journalists.

“I am going to appoint more than one deputy,” he said.

He promised to fight corruption and institute administrative reforms after several members of his United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), parliament’s largest bloc, accused the outgoing government of Iyad Allawi of breaking the law and hiring senior members of the banned Baath Party of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

Parliament is expected to vote on Sunday on an UIA-proposed motion to rebuke and sanction the Allawi government.

Mr Jaafari refused to go into details over the government line-up but one of his senior aides and UIA member Jawad al-Maliki said that a quarter of about 30 posts would go to women.

He said that the UIA, with 146 of the 275 parliament seats, would have all the important ministries of finance, interior and oil.

He said that their Kurdish coalition partners with 77 seats would retain foreign ministry currently headed by Hoshyar Zebari and “may get planning ministry as a consolation for oil which they had been fighting to clinch.”

The Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the elections but are assiduously being courted by both sides, would get at least six ministries including defence, he said.—-AFP