BAGHDAD, 8 April 2005 — Iraq’s first elected government in half a century finally took shape yesterday when a Jalal Talabani, who becomes the first Kurdish head of state in an Arab country, took oath as president and named a top religious Shiite leader Ibrahim Jaafari as his prime minister.

The confirmation of the two top posts ended weeks of political bickering between parties that frustrated Iraqis and the international community alike.

Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah and Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, congratulated the new Iraqi government and wished them every success.

Shiite Islamist Adel Abdel Mahdi and outgoing Sunni President Ghazi Al-Yawar were sworn in as Talabani’s two deputies completing a three-man presidency that together nominated the prime minister.

Talabani, 71, vowed to bring reconciliation to a country torn by decades of ethnic tension and totalitarian rule as he took the oath of office at a historic session of Parliament.

He was supposed to formally nominate Jaafari during the same ceremony but the Parliament session was adjourned right after Talabani finished the Kurdish-language part of his acceptance speech.

This forced Talabani to make an impromptu announcement to appoint the new prime minister, with perplexed MPs already standing up on their feet in a noise-filled room, which angered Jaafari’s partisans.

In his acceptance speech, Talabani proposed an amnesty for insurgents who have attempted to wreck Iraq’s transition to democracy with daily attacks against security forces and civilians.

“We must find a political and peaceful solution with Iraqis who have been led astray by terrorism and grant them an amnesty,” said Talabani.

He said insurgents “should be invited to participate in the democratic process and be given the chance to benefit from the acquired freedoms, even if they call for the withdrawal of foreign or occupation forces, as they call them.”

He also held out a hand to Iraq’s Sunni minority. “We have to continue dialogue to complete a full understanding with our brothers, the Sunni Arabs, who are key component of our nation” he said.

But Jaafari was markedly less enthusiastic about the amnesty. “We will deal with each suspect according to the gravity of the crime, but we announce an amnesty for those who may qualify for it,” he said.

Jaafari heads the religious Dawa party which is part of the Shiite bloc that swept the board in the Jan. 30 election, but he nonetheless commands respect across Iraq’s ethnic divisions.

Jaafari vowed to swiftly put in place a new government to replace the outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. “I hope to complete the formation of my government within two weeks, even though I have a month to do it,” he told reporters.