Chalabi took over the rotating chairmanship of the council on Monday

Additional Reporting By Sobhi Haddad, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, September 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iraq’s U.S.-backed Governing Council named on Monday, September 1, 25 ministers for an interim government, but overall authority would remain in the hands of U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer until an elected government is installed.

The same division of posts among Iraqi sectarian and ethnic communities that was included in Iraq’s Governing Council was repeated in the division of names of the new cabinet members.

The new cabinet is divided up among the country's ethnic and sectarian make-up, with 13 ministries going to Muslim Shiites, five to Sunnis, five to Kurds, one to Turkmen and one to the Christians, a council source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).   

The key oil ministry goes to Shiite Ibrahim Mohammad Bahr Al-Ulum and the interior minister post will be held by another Shiite, Nuri Badran, said the source.

The foreign affairs portfolio will go to a Kurd, Hoshiar Al-Zibari, while finance goes to a Sunni, Kamel al-Kailani, said a governing council member, Nasseer al-Shadershi.

One ministerial post goes to a Kurdish woman, Nisrin Mustafa al-Burwari, who takes the portfolio for public works. There will be five deputy ministerial posts held by women, sources said.

The new ministries added to the new cabinet are ministries of Sciences & Technology, Electricity, Water Resources, Public Works, Environment, Human Rights, the Ministry of Immigrants and Youth & Sports.

The head of the Governing council said last week that the new interim government will not have defense and intelligence ministers, both positions disbanded by the U.S. administration since rolling into Baghdad.

The council also does not intend to appoint a prime minister. Instead the council's rotating chairman will assume the post in the new line-up.

Overall authority in the country remains in the hands of U.S. governor Paul Bremer until an elected government is installed, according to Reuters.

Elections are scheduled to be held some time next year.

All ministry buildings with the exception of the oil ministry, protected from the start of the U.S.-British invasion, were looted, burned or bombed. Many of them are structurally unsound and must be rebuilt.

The list of names appointed by the Governing Council, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, comprised a number of technocrats, as well as members of the Iraqi opposition previously opponent to the former regime of deposed President Saddam Hussein.

Governing Council sources had told IOL last week that the distribution of the cabinet seats were based on the same “sectarian and ethnic” basis that comprised the seats of the interim body.

The sources said all circles representing the Governing Council have
agreed to cancel the ministry of endowment & religious affairs due to
differences and strong opposition by the 13-strong Shiite members in the 25-member council.

The cabinet members were due to meet with the Governing Council later Monday before starting work the following day, sources said.

Council member Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, a pro-Western anti-Saddam Hussein faction that provided troops for the U.S.-led invasion, on Monday took over the rotating chairmanship of the body.

Chalabi was convicted in absentia in neighboring Jordan of fraud and embezzling 288 million dollars and sentenced to 22 years in jail. He has always maintained that his conviction for fraud was the result of a plot by Saddam's regime to frame him.

The U.S.-appointed council was introduced in July 2003 and has since been looking to re-establish ministries, an essential step in restoring some Iraqi authority since the collapse of the Baghdad regime on April 9.

The Council has named a committee to prepare for writing a new constitution ahead of next year’s elections.

Arab countries have not officially recognized the council, amid fears the recognition could appear to be giving it a status of a full-fledged government and undermine their efforts to pressure the U.S. and British forces into ending their occupation now in its fifth month and turn over power into the hands of Iraqis.