Iraqi workers protest attacks

BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of electricity and oil workers shouting ''No, no to terror!" marched through Baghdad yesterday to protest attacks that have killed dozens of their colleagues, while demonstrators in the south demanded that the new petroleum minister be chosen from their oil-rich region.

The demonstrations occurred as negotiators for the two biggest factions in the new National Assembly worked out details of an Iraqi government that US officials hope will pave the way for the withdrawal of coalition forces.

Jawad al-Maliki, a negotiator from the Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance, said talks had progressed enough for Shi'ite Arab and ethnic Kurd officials to agree to hold parliament's second session early next week, though no date had been set. The 275-seat National Assembly met March 16 to swear in members.

''The negotiations were positive and very good," Maliki said. ''In the coming days, the meetings will be continuous and decisive."

Lined up behind a black banner with the names of slain power workers, protesters demanded an end to attacks on electricity stations and oil pipelines, targets in an insurgent effort to weaken the economy and undermine the US-led coalition and interim government.

In Basra, more than 200 workers gathered outside a local government building to insist that the new government's oil and transportation ministers be chosen from the southern region.

''Everyone must know that the oppressed and persecuted people of the south refuse to have their interests be ignored," protesters said in a statement given to the provincial governor, Mohammed al-Waeli.

Waeli agreed, saying: ''We are eager that the people of Basra and the south have clout in the new government."

Some oil workers threatened to disrupt production in the south. ''We will stop pumping the oil and go on strike for those working in the oil field and the ports if our demands aren't met," said Mohammed Abdul Hafez, a union official and a demonstration organizer.

The insurgency's persistent violence and the threat of disruptions to Iraq's oil exports have contributed to the rising world prices of crude oil over the past year.

Kurdish and Shi'ite negotiators debated Cabinet posts yesterday. Abdul-Karim al-Anzi, a Shi'ite official, said legislators should be able to elect the president, two vice presidents, and parliament's speaker in their session next week.

The prime minister is expected to be Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a politician from Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani is to be named president. One of the vice presidents is expected to be a Sunni Arab, Maliki said.