Bagdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday that he would form a government by mid-December that would incorporate all the main political factions, including rival Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc.
President Jalal Talabani formally asked Maliki on Thursday to form a government, giving him 30 days to choose a cabinet from fractious Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions.
"I will not let time go by until the period ends. I have a time ceiling that doesn't exceed between the 10th and the 15th of next month," Maliki said at a news conference in Baghdad, his first since being formally appointed.
Asked whether Iraq wanted to extend a security pact with Washington which calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of next year, Maliki said Iraq's police and army had proved they could control security.
"The security pact with all its dates will remain valid, and I don't feel that there is a need for any other international force to help Iraqis in controlling the security situation," he said.
The United States formally ended combat operations on Aug 31 but still has about 50,000 troops in Iraq to assist and train Iraqi forces.
Maliki, a Shi'ite, won the fight for the premiership in a power-sharing deal reached with rivals on Nov 10 that gave the presidency to Talabani, a Kurd, and named Iraqiya lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, as speaker of parliament.
The squabbling between Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds since March, when an election failed to produce a clear winner, had raised concerns of a return to the sectarian violence that nearly tore Iraq apart in 2006-07.
The coalition that emerged is still fragile: Allawi has already suggested that the agreement has been violated.
Maliki said the cross-sectarian Iraqiya would be a main partner in the new government, whether Allawi participated or not. The agreement gave Allawi, who wanted Maliki's job, the leadership of the National Council for Strategic Policies, a body that has yet to be created.
"The non-participation of a person doesn't stop the cycle of forming the government ... we will welcome anyone who wants to be a partner," Maliki said.
He reiterated his commitment to establishing Allawi's council but said it would be an advisory body. Allawi had been seeking real power for it.
Maliki said he might also create a third deputy prime minister's post and add a ministry to make the government more inclusive.
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