US President Barack Obama has
said the nomination of Haider al-Abadi as Iraq’s prime
minister-designate is a “promising step forward”.
He acknowledged that Iraq had been through “difficult days”, and urged its political leaders to work together.
Earlier on Monday, Iraq’s president asked Abadi to form a new government, snubbing the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
Maliki said Abadi’s nomination was a “violation of the constitution”.
Speaking from his holiday retreat in Martha’s Vineyard, Obama said US forces had successfully carried out air strikes to prevent the advance of Islamist militants in northern Iraq.
But Obama said there was no American military solution to the crisis – and that only an inclusive Iraqi government could unify the fight against the Islamists.
Militants from the Islamic State group have made substantial gains in northern Iraq in recent months, forcing tens of thousands of people from religious minorities to flee their homes.
As well as the air strikes, the US has conducted air drops of essential supplies to Yazidi people stuck on a mountain range.
Over the last four nights, US and UK air crews have flown 14 successful missions, air dropping more than 310 bundles of food, water and medical supplies, and delivering almost 16,000 gallons of water and 75,000 meals, the US government says.
The US has also begun supplying weapons to the Kurdish Peshmergas, who are fighting the militants, senior US officials have told the Associated Press.
President Obama said Iraq’s new leadership “has a difficult task to regain the confidence of its citizens by governing inclusively and taking steps to demonstrate its resolve.”
He urged Abadi to form a cabinet that represents all of Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian communities, and said mobilising US and international support would be easier once that happens.
The US has been reluctant to provide such help while the government was led by Maliki, a Shia seen by many as fuelling ethnic and sectarian tensions that boosted support for the Sunni militants, the BBC’s Barbara Plett reports from Washington.
Abadi’s nomination has also been welcomed by the presidents of France and Turkey, but not by the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
He acknowledged that Iraq had been through “difficult days”, and urged its political leaders to work together.
Earlier on Monday, Iraq’s president asked Abadi to form a new government, snubbing the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
Maliki said Abadi’s nomination was a “violation of the constitution”.
Speaking from his holiday retreat in Martha’s Vineyard, Obama said US forces had successfully carried out air strikes to prevent the advance of Islamist militants in northern Iraq.
But Obama said there was no American military solution to the crisis – and that only an inclusive Iraqi government could unify the fight against the Islamists.
Militants from the Islamic State group have made substantial gains in northern Iraq in recent months, forcing tens of thousands of people from religious minorities to flee their homes.
As well as the air strikes, the US has conducted air drops of essential supplies to Yazidi people stuck on a mountain range.
Over the last four nights, US and UK air crews have flown 14 successful missions, air dropping more than 310 bundles of food, water and medical supplies, and delivering almost 16,000 gallons of water and 75,000 meals, the US government says.
The US has also begun supplying weapons to the Kurdish Peshmergas, who are fighting the militants, senior US officials have told the Associated Press.
President Obama said Iraq’s new leadership “has a difficult task to regain the confidence of its citizens by governing inclusively and taking steps to demonstrate its resolve.”
He urged Abadi to form a cabinet that represents all of Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian communities, and said mobilising US and international support would be easier once that happens.
The US has been reluctant to provide such help while the government was led by Maliki, a Shia seen by many as fuelling ethnic and sectarian tensions that boosted support for the Sunni militants, the BBC’s Barbara Plett reports from Washington.
Abadi’s nomination has also been welcomed by the presidents of France and Turkey, but not by the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
