IRAQ - Aug 24 - Sunnis Unwilling To Rejoin Iraqi Cabinet.

Iraq's vice president Tariq Al-Hashemi says his Sunni political party will not return to its Cabinet positions unless its demands are met. Tariq Al-Hashemi's moderate party is part of a Sunni political alliance, the Concord Front, which recently pulled five of its ministers out of the Shi'ite-dominated government, saying PM Nuri Al-Maliki failed to respond to a set of demands, including the release of security detainees held without charges. "We don't have such a thought, such a willingness", Hashemi said in response to a question about whether the ministers would return to their Cabinet jobs. "We have suggested a package of reforms which includes our expectations; we may return to the Cabinet if the government meets our expectations". Hashemi's Iraqi Islamic Party is the moderate third of the largest Sunni bloc in Parliament and was working to improve conditions for the detainees and to free the innocent among them. The Concord Front, which also includes the hard-line Cong pulled out of government citing Maliki's failure to respond to demands that also included the disbanding of militias and the participation of all groups represented in government in dealing with security issues. More broadly, the Sunnis complained that decisions were being taken by a small group around Maliki and the Sunnis had no real input in government policy. The Sunni pullout disrupted Maliki's "unity" government and left it without a real Sunni ...