BAGHDAD, June 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraq's Governing Council named Tuesday, June 1, Sunni tribal leader Sheikh Ghazi Al-Yawer  Iraq's interim  president after Council member Adnan Pachachi turned down the post.

"As for the Presidential Council, I am honored and privileged to announce that its composition is as follows: Sheikh Ghazi Al-Yawer, President; Dr. Ibrahim Jaffari [of the Islamic Shiite Dawa party], Deputy President; Dr. Rowsch Shaways [of the Kurdistan Democratic Party], Deputy President," said a statement by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I am pleased to announce that, on Sunday [May 30], I handed over to His Excellency Prime Minister Designate Iyad Allawi my recommendations concerning the composition of his cabinet," Brahimi added, without disclosing the list.

The political stalemate appeared to have been broken Tuesday morning when occupation and council sources announced that Pachachi had been chosen for the post, following a meeting attended by council members and U.S. overseer Paul Bremer.

But the number two of Pachachi's party, Mahdi Al-Hafez, then announced that Pachachi declined the post, opening the way for Yawer.

"Pachachi was nominated but a half-hour later, he announced he turned down the post," Hafez told AFP.

A senior occupation official said Pachachi declined the post "because of the controversy surrounding the whole thing."

"He didn't want to come in a weak position," he said.

Most Governing Council members had been vocal in their support of Yawer, while the Americans were widely believed to back Pachachi, the scion of an old political family.

The post, however, is stripped of its Saddam-era powers and whittled down to a mainly ceremonial role.

‘Calumnies’

However, Pachachi categorically denied at a hastily arranged press conference after the announcement that he had been the candidate of the occupation.

"These are mere calumnies and all Iraqi people are fully aware of that," he told reporters.

Pachachi, 81, said he was chosen by Brahimi after marathon talks with the leaders Iraq’s religious and ethnic communities.

He reaffirmed his conviction that the Governing Council is not empowered to have the final saying on the formation of the new line-up which should have come after broad consultations with the Iraqi powers.

The U.S. occupation authorities claimed Monday, May 31, that the presidency race was not only between the two Sunni contenders.

"It is completely fabricated that it is a toss up between Yawer  and Pachachi," a U.S. military official said.

Iraqi officials had said the council backs Yawer  for the post, but U.S. overseer Paul Bremer and U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi endorsed Pachachi.

Iraqi officials have accused Bremer of manipulating the decision-making process at the expense of the United Nations and the council.

"To be honest, everyone feels excluded. The Governing Council feels excluded... It seems as though the coalition is in charge," said Sami Al-Askari, council representative for Shiite member Mohammed Bahr al-Ulum.

But he said the body would not cave in to U.S. demands for Pachachi.

"The council will choose Yawer. The majority is with Yawer," he said.

The New York Times reported on Saturday, May 29, that the choice of Allawi as the prime minister of the upcoming Iraqi provisional government was forced by the U.S. as a fait accompli on the U.N. and the Iraqi people.

Tribal Magnate

A tribal magnate and businessman, at only 47, Yawer’s traditional flowing white tribal dress and keffieh belie his Western connections and education.

After studying engineering at George Washington University, Yawer, who belongs to the Iraq’s biggest clan Shumar, moved to Saudi Arabia where he opened a prosperous telecommunications business.

The occupation of the oil-rich country and the fall of Saddam changed his plans.

He returned to Iraq at the behest of his uncle after Saddam fell in April last year and became a member of the Governing Council, of which he was appointed President after his predecessor Ezzedine Salim was killed in a bombing on May 17.

From the multi-ethnic northern city of Mosul, Yawer has promoted his inter-sectarian ties, saying he has close relations to Kurds and that his mother taught him to respect the Shiite as well as Sunni tradition, and Christianity.