Iraq names acting oil minister as incumbent quits

BAGHDAD: Iraq's Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said on Tuesday his resignation, which he tendered last month, had now been accepted.    

Tourism Minister Hashem al-Hashemi had been appointed acting oil minister and had already started work, a spokesman in the prime minister's office told reporters.   

"Two days ago, I received a letter from Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari accepting my resignation," Uloum said.   

In December, Jaafari ordered Uloum to take a month's leave after he opposed big increases in fuel prices under a deal with the International Monetary Fund. Uloum resigned on December 28 and was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi.   

Chalabi is currently in Vienna, where he is heading the Iraqi delegation to a meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Two weeks ago Uloum returned to work after getting support from the president and most powerful Shi'ite political leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who heads the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.   

But on January 24, Uloum met Jaafari and asked him to "reactivate" his resignation, according to Uloum's office.   

Uloum said on Tuesday the oil ministry should be kept out of Iraq's political wranglings. "The oil ministry is a very important and key ministry. It is the backbone of Iraq's economy and therefore we should work on de-politicising it and not to lose it in this political phase we are going through," he said.