A Future Jordan - نحن الأردن

King Abdullah appoints new PM

King Abdullah appoints new PM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
APRIL 5, 2005

Jordan's King Abdullah II appointed a leading academic as his country's new prime minister and ordered him to form a new Cabinet replacing one that resigned Tuesday amid claims of royal disapproval over the performance of some ministers, top government officials said.

Adnan Badran, a university president and former Prime Ministry advisor, met with several Cabinet aspirants after being designated prime minister in a closed-door meeting with Abdullah earlier Tuesday, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

They said the prime minister-designate was expected to present his Cabinet list to Abdullah for approval soon. The Cabinet is likely to be sworn in Wednesday or Thursday, the officials added.
Badran replaces Faisal al-Fayez, whose resignation was confirmed by the state radio and news agency.

Government officials have said the king wanted "new blood" to press ahead with political and economic reforms, saying the outgoing Cabinet of Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez has been slow doing so.

Al-Fayez took office on Oct. 25, 2003. He has reshuffled his Cabinet twice since.

Speculation surfaced recently that al-Fayez may reshuffle his 29-member Cabinet again. But the government officials said Abdullah has sought a complete change because of disappointment over the government's handling of several issues.

These included the February resignation of confidant, Planning Minister Bassem Awadallah; the failure of a Jordanian peace initiative presented to last month's Arab summit; and the fallout over claims a Jordanian suicide bomber was responsible for Feb. 28 terrorist attack in Hillah, Iraq, that killed 125.

Awadallah, an enthusiast for Abdullah's reforms, is said to have quit over personal differences with al-Fayez, mainly over the way the premier was running state affairs, including economic policy. Top government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that Awadallah is likely to be given the finance portfolio in the new Cabinet.

The officials said Abdullah also held his foreign minister, Hani al-Mulqi, responsible for what the king described in a recent newspaper interview as a "misunderstanding" with Saudi Arabia over a Jordanian peace initiative presented to last month's Arab League summit in Algiers.

The summit, led by hardline states such as Syria, rejected Jordan's proposal, which called for peace negotiations with Israel without requiring the Jewish state to relinquish all Arab territory lost in the 1967 Six Day War. The proposal was widely seen as trying to prompt Israel to make concessions.

The king was also frustrated by the Cabinet's handling of incorrect claims a Jordanian carried out the Hillah attack, the biggest bombing to take place in postwar Iraq. The claims sparked a diplomatic crisis with neighboring Iraq, culminating in Jordan recalling its top diplomat to Baghdad. Iraq followed suit in a tit-for-tat move.

Abdullah is said to have felt that the Cabinet reacted too slowly to deny Jordanian involvement in the attack and bungled the recall of its envoy to Iraq, who returned to his post later.

Since ascending to the throne in 1999, Abdullah has sought to invigorate reforms introduced by his late father, King Hussein. Hussein's reforms focused on political liberalization, mainly reviving a multiparty system banned since a 1956 leftist coup attempt and restoring parliamentary elections after a 22-year hiatus caused by Jordan's loss of the West Bank to Israel in 1967.

But Abdullah's plan is mainly economy-oriented, aimed at building on political achievements since 1989. A computer and Internet enthusiast, Abdullah wants to make Jordan a regional information technology hub. He also wants to see his nation geared toward open-market economy and globalization and has introduced relevant legislation in recent years.

His early target was for Jordanians to have access to computers, improved education and health care. But such efforts have often stumbled over bureaucracy in this predominantly conservative Muslim society, which considers such bold goals as alien or imported from the West.

Abdullah's reform calls came long before the United States unveiled early in 2004 its Greater Middle East Initiative, which envisions more democracy in the largely totalitarian Arab world.

posted by Ashraf Zeitoon @ 3:18 AM