The 25-member Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) on Wednesday ushered in Ayad Allawi, leader of the Iraqi National Accord movement, to replace Ahmed Chalabi as the rotating president for this month.

The rotating system set by the United States requires that one of the nine members of the IGC's chairing committee will succeed one another monthly on the basis of alphabetic order.

It started with Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, spokesman of the Islamic Dawa Party, who was inaugurated on July 13 to run the administrative affairs of Iraq during the transitional period after former leader Saddam Hussein was toppled by the US-led war.

Ja'fari's presidency was marked by a six-nation Arab tour by an IGC delegation for soliciting recognition of the council and preparing the forming of a 25-member cabinet.

In contrast, Chalabi's term in September seemed rather controversial.

A number of laws, such as the new Iraqi nationality law which permits dual nationality for Iraqi citizens, was adopted in the past month.

The move was considered motivated by the fact that some of the IGC members are holders of dual nationality.

Under the former Iraqi nationality law, Iraqis are prohibited from holding dual nationality and those having dual nationality are not allowed to act as public officials, let alone legislators.

Also much debated was the decision proclaimed by Finance Minister Kamel al-Keylani on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Dubai to allow foreign investment in nearly all sectors except oil.

The premature internationalization has touched off a wide-spread opposition in Iraqi business and economic circles to the extent that almost everybody in Iraq is talking of "offering Iraq for sale to the highest bidders."

Opposition to the announcement was so strong that the IGC found itself obliged to clarify that "it doesn't see eye-to-eye with the finance minister as far as his Dubai statement is concerned."

For this month, there is no easy job for Allawi.

The IGC will have to speed up the process of drafting a new constitution for establishing a democratic and harmonious Iraq.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell gave the IGC a time-limit of six months to draft the new constitution and organizing a referendum about it.

All in all, things in Iraq seem taking a new turn of urgency in October since the security situation is deteriorating and anti-US attacks become more incessant and better organized.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2003)