Tribal leader picked as Iraqi president after bitter feud over government

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2004

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Tribal magnate Ghazi al-Yawar was chosen as Iraq's first post-Saddam president after Adnan Pachachi turned down the post, in a bitter denouement to days of wrangling between the US-led occupation and the interim leadership.

"Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar has officially been announced for the president of the republic and has started to receive congratulations from Governing Council members," Hind al-Shnein, from Yawar's office, told AFP.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi confirmed the appointment.

Ibrahim Jaffari from the Shiite religious party Dawa and Roj Nuri Shawis of Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party were appointed as vice presidents, Brahimi said in a statement.

"Both the coalition and the Governing Council members have unanimously...