Meanwhile, Maliki announced that he and the ministers for the interior, oil, trade and water resources would spend the next three days in Damascus. He had said earlier in the day that he expected the power-sharing summit among Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders to take place "in the next two days."
Representatives of the three main factions in the government met Sunday for several hours. Vice President Tariq Hashimi, the top Sunni involved in the talks, said the group had made progress on setting an agenda for the yet-to-be-scheduled summit.
