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Iraqi PM calls for major cabinet reshuffle

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaks during the Iraqi Police Day at a police academy in Baghdad January 9, 2016. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday he would reshuffle his cabinet to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations with technocrats. "Out of my responsibility, the greater interest and the requirements of the current period to lead the country to safety, I call for a radical cabinet reshuffle to include professionals, technocrats and academics," Abadi said in a televised speech which focused mainly on economic challenges facing major OPEC oil exporter Iraq. He gave no details about the timing of the change or what positions would be affected. By replacing ministers chosen on the basis of party affiliation or ethnic or sectarian identity, Abadi risks disturbing the delicate balance of Iraq's governing system in place since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Emboldened last summer by popular protests and a call for action by Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, he unilaterally moved at the time to dismantle the country's patronage system and root out corruption undermining the battle against Islamic State. The Islamist militant movement seized nearly a third of the country's territory in 2014. But those measures soon got bogged down by legal challenges and opposition from entrenched interests, and Abadi has since been criticised for failing to take decisive action. Iraq, whose income relies almost exclusively on oil sales, has meanwhile struggled to pay its bills amid the fall in global crude prices. (Reporting by Baghdad newsroom; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Tom Heneghan)