IRAQ: The US-led occupation force in Iraq on Tuesday dissolved the Governing Council which it set up after toppling Saddam Hussein 14 months ago and installed an new interim government as the UN Security Council prepared to debate a resolution on the country's future, reports AFP. The government was sworn in with a 46-year-old tribal magnate and businessman, Ghazi al-Yawar, its titular head in the now largely ceremonial post of Iraqi president. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has confirmed that Mr Al-Yawer is to be the country's new interim president, reports BBC online. A statement issued by Brahimi also said Ibrahim Jaafari and Rowsch Shaways would be named vice-presidents. Earlier reports said ex-Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi had been chosen as president but had declined the job. Pachachi, was preferred by the US, but most members of the Governing Council had favored Yawer. Correspondents say Yawer is a businessman and tribal leader who has recently criticized the way the U.S. has handled security in Iraq. His deputies will be Jaafari, leader of the Shia Dawa party, and Shaways, a Kurd. Council member Mahmoud Othman told journalists that the appointment would be formally announced later this week. The interim president will be part of a new administration from 30 June, when the U.S.-led coalition is due to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis.
