Ibrahim al-Ja'fari | |
|---|---|
إبراهيم الجعفري | |
 Al-Ja'fari in 2014 | |
| Prime Minister of Iraq | |
| In office 3 May 2005 – 20 May 2006 | |
| President | Jalal Talabani |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | Ayad Allawi |
| Succeeded by | Nouri al-Maliki |
| InterimVice President of Iraq | |
| In office June 1, 2004 – April 7, 2005 Serving with Rowsch Shaways | |
| President | Ghazi al-Yawer (interim) |
| Preceded by | Taha Yassin Ramadan |
| Succeeded by | Ghazi al-Yawer andAdil Abdul-Mahdi |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 8 September 2014 – 25 October 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Haider al-Abadi |
| Preceded by | Hussain al-Shahristani(acting) |
| Succeeded by | Mohamed Ali Alhakim |
| President of the Governing Council of Iraq | |
| In office 1 August 2003 – 31 August 2003 | |
| Leader | Paul Bremer |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum(Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Ahmed Chalabi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ibrahim Abd al-Karim Hamza al-Eshaiker (1947-03-25)25 March 1947 (age 78) Karbala,Kingdom of Iraq |
| Political party | National Iraqi Alliance National Reform Trend |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of Mosul |
| Profession | Physician |
| Website | www |
Ibrahim Abdul Karim al-Eshaiker (Arabic:إبراهيم عبد الكريم الأشيقر; born 25 March 1947), better known asIbrahim al-Jaafari, is an Iraqi politician who wasPrime Minister of Iraq in theIraqi Transitional Government from 2005 to 2006, following theJanuary 2005 election. He served asMinister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2018.
He was one of the twoVice Presidents of Iraq under theIraqi Interim Government from 2004 to 2005, and he was the main spokesman for theIslamic Dawa Party. He withdrew his nomination for premiership for the permanent government.
He was born inKarbala toShia parents Abd al-Karim al-Eshaiker and Rahmah al-Eshaiker on March 25, 1947.[1][2] He hails from the nobleAl Zheek family that claims descent from Ibrahim al-AsgharbinMusa al-Kadhim, the seventh ShiaImam. The family settled in Karbala in the early 11th-century. His great-grandfather, Mahdi bin Ali bin Baqir al-Eshaiker, led the al-Eshaiker revolt in Karbala in 1876 against theOttoman Empire.[3]
al-Jaafari was educated atMosuluniversity as a medical doctor.[4] He moved with his family to Iran where he lived and worked with the Islamic Revolution Council of Iraq, an Iran backed Iraqi opposition until 1989. He then moved to London where he continued his political activities by eventually heading the Dawa Islamic Party.
He joined theIslamic Dawa Party in 1968. Upon graduation from school in 1974 he worked actively for the party in Iraq which was trying to overthrow theBa'athist secular Sunni-dominated government. He left forIran in 1980 and became involved in the movement againstSaddam Hussein there as part of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq where he represented the Islamic Dawa Party. He adopted the nameal-Jaafari in exile to protect his family in Iraq from retribution by Saddam. He moved toLondon in 1989 where he became the al-Dawa spokesman in theUK and an important participant in the wider anti-Saddam movement. While in the UK he attended many Iraqi Events giving religious sermons.[4]
He opposed the2003 invasion of Iraq but returned to Iraq soon after.[5] He was picked in July 2003 as member of the U.S.-backedIraqi Governing Council, and served as its first chairman and Iraq's first post-Saddam interimPresident for one month. On 1 June 2004, he was selected to be one of the two vice-presidents in theIraqi Interim Government.[4]
He brought al-Dawa into theUnited Iraqi Alliance coalition of Shi'ite parties and was second on the party's list afterSCIRI leaderAbdul Aziz al-Hakim.[4]
Following the January 2005 Iraqi elections the strength of the UIA in the parliament made him a likely candidate to become the nation's new Prime Minister. OnlyAhmed Chalabi challenged him for the position. Chalabi later dropped out of the race, being less than a favourite for a majority of the parties in the UIA, partly tainted by several scandals, thus leaving al-Jaafari unchallenged to become the alliance's candidate for the post. He was designated as Prime Minister on 7 April 2005, following the election of aPresidency Council the day before.[6] After a long period of negotiations aimed at establishing a broad-based government, he and his cabinet were finally approved by theNational Assembly of Iraq on 28 April.[7]
In the national election of December 2005, the UIA once again won the majority of the votes, which according to the new Iraqi constitution, gets to pick the Prime Minister. UIA members voted for the Prime Minister with only two main candidates. Al-Jaafari was one and the SCIRI memberAdel Abdul Mahdi, an economist. Jaafari won the vote only by one (64–63). His win was credited to the support ofMuqtada Al Sadr's members of UIA, who all voted for him.[8]
Despite this win, however, he became increasingly associated with the failure to end the violence in Iraq and to improve services. Because of this, the Sunni, Kurdish and secular groups in the parliament refused to agree to him continuing as Prime Minister, leading to deadlock. His refusal to stand down began to alienate even those who had backed him up to that point, but it is believed that only whenAyatollah Ali al-Sistani intervened that he finally stepped down.[9] The US government had expressed dissatisfaction with him in two months earlier, withGeorge W. Bush stating that he "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" his retention as Prime Minister.[10]
He was succeeded by al-Maliki as Dawa Party secretary-general in May 2007.[11]
In May 2008, al-Jaafari launched a new political party called theNational Reform Trend.[12] He was formally expelled from the Dawa party as a consequence, and his new party was widely seen as a vehicle for an attempt at regaining power.[13]
.jpg)
He was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs by newly-elect Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi on 8 September 2014.[14]
In February 2018, al-Jaafari condemned theTurkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backedSyrian Kurds from the enclave ofAfrin. He stated: "We reject any foreign nation from intervening in the affairs of another country."[15]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum Acting | President of the Governing Council of Iraq 2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Iraq 2005–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq 2014–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Mandatory Iraq (1920–1932) |
| |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom of Iraq (1932–1958) |
| |||
| First Republic of Iraq (1958–1968) |
| |||
| Ba'athist Iraq (1968–2003) |
| |||
| Iraqi Governing Council (2003–2004) |
| |||
| Republic of Iraq (since 2004) |
| |||
| ||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
