The members of Iraq's first post-war cabinet were announced on 1 September after weeks of wrangling.
The 24 men and one woman represent the country's various sectarian communities. The make-up of the cabinet mirrors the religious and ethnic mix of the US-apppointed Iraqi Governing Council.
Members will serve as ministers in an interim government until elections.
There are no ministries for defence, information or religious affairs, nor has a prime minister been appointed.
- Agriculture: Abdel Amir Abbud Rahima
A member of the newly-founded National Democratic Party, Abdel Amir Abbud Rahima is from Basra.
- Communications: Haidar al-Abbadi
Dr al-Abbadi is a supporter of the Shia Islamic Daawa Party. He has a doctorate in electrical engineering.
- Culture: Mufid Mohammad Jawad al-Jazairi
Mufid al-Jazairi, 64, is a member of the political bureau of the Iraqi Communist Party. He studied journalism in Prague and worked on the Arabic desk at Czechoslovak Radio during the 1960s and 1970s, before travelling to Kurdish northern Iraq to join the underground opposition to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. His Czech wife, Pavla Jazairiova, is a well-known radio journalist.
- Education: Alaa Abdessaheb al-Alwan
Dr Alaa Abdessaheb al-Alwan is a 54-year-old medical doctor who pursued a career as a civil servant and academic before joining the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1992 and later becoming its representative in Jordan. He is a former Dean of the College of Medicine, Mustansariyah University, Baghdad. He was born in Baghdad.
- Health: Khodayyir Abbas
A member of the UK's Royal College of Surgeons, Dr Khodayyir Abbas is a supporter of the Islamic Daawa Party.
- Immigration: Mohammad Jassem Khodayyir
A long-standing activist in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Mohammad Jassem Khodayyir is also a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Dawaa Party.
- Interior: Nuri Badran
A native of Basra in southern Iraq and the son of a Shia tribal chief, Nuri Badran was Iraq's ambassador to Russia before breaking with Saddam Hussein in 1990 over the invasion of Kuwait. After fleeing Iraq he joined the exiled opposition group the Iraqi National Accord. He returned to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
- Labour and Social Affairs: Sami Azara al-Majun
A 71-year-old Shia tribal leader from Samawa in southern Iraq, Shaykh Sami Azara is the head of the National Reform Movement. He is a lawyer and worked for the justice ministry in Saudi Arabia between 1971 and 1980. He is a former member of the Iraqi National Congress. At times he has been critical of Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein for failing to include tribal leaders in their plans.
- Oil: Ibrahim Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum
Ibrahim Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum is the son of independent Shia cleric Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum. A US-educated petroleum engineer, he lived in London between 1992 and 2003. His father suspended his membership of the Iraqi Governing Council in protest at the lack of security in Iraq after the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.
- Planning: Mahdi al-Hafez
Mahdi al-Hafez represented Iraq at the United Nations in New York between 1978 and 1980, before pursuing a career as an economic and foreign relations expert. He was head of the Cairo-based Arab Economic Research Association. On returning to Iraq, he joined the board of directors of Al-Nahdah newspaper as deputy to Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi and joined the Iraqi Independent Democrats.
- Trade: Ali Allawi
A businessman who has worked closely with Governing Council member Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i in the past, Ali Allawi lived in London before returning to Iraq. In June 2002 he was involved in organising "The Declaration of Iraqi Shia". This statement, signed by a large number of Shia exiles, called for "the establishment of a constitutional parliamentary system" but also stressed the need to preserve "the Islamic cultural identity of Iraqi society".
- Youth and Sports: Ali Faek al-Ghadban
Ali Faek al-Ghadban is a supporter of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
- Electricity: Ayham al-Samarie
A long-time associate of Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi, Dr al-Samarrai lived in the USA and was active in the Iraqi opposition before returning to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. During the 1990s he served on the executive committee of the Democratic Centrist Tendency, a liberal opposition group. He is currently a member of the Iraqi Independent Democrats, founded by Adnan Pachachi in March 2003.
- Finance: Kamel al-Kilani
Kamel al-Kilani, 44, is from Baghdad and is one of the few ministers not to have returned recently from exile. He runs a contracting firm and holds a masters degree in economics and public administration from Mustansariyah University in Baghdad.
- Higher Education: Ziad Abderrazzak Mohammad Aswad
Dr Aswad is a supporter of the Iraqi branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Iraqi Islamic Party. He is a former head of Baghdad University's Department of Petroleum Engineering.
- Human Rights: Abdel Basset Turki
Abdel Basset Turki is a human rights activist.
- Justice: Hisham Abderrahman al-Shibli
Hisham Abderrahman al-Shibli, a lawyer from Baghdad, is a member of the National Democratic Party, which was recently founded by Governing Council member Naseer al-Chadirchi.
- Technology: Rashad Mandan Omar
Rashad Mandan Omar has a doctorate in engineering and has been working in airport construction in Dubai for the past five years. He is a Sunni Turkmen, originally from the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.
- Environment: Abderrahman Sadik Karim
An independent Kurdish environmental activist from Kirkuk, Abderrahman Sadik Karim is a trained engineer.
- Foreign Affairs: Hoshyar Zebari
Hoshyar Zebari is one of the best-known ministers in the new Iraqi cabinet. As the Kurdistan Democratic Party's foreign spokesman he represented KDP leader Massoud Barzani in negotiations with US officials throughout the 1990s. He was born in 1953 in the Kurdish town of Aqrah, but grew up in the mainly Arab city of Mosul. He is a graduate of the University of Essex in the UK and gained a masters degree in sociology in 1980.
- Industry and Mines: Mohammad Tufik Rahim
A senior member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Mohammad Tufik Rahim, 50, was elected Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Kurdish parliament in 1992. He is a member of the PUK's political bureau. He was born in Sulaymaniyah.
- Public Works: (Ms) Nisrin Mustafa al-Barwari
The youngest minister and the only woman in the new cabinet, 36-year-old Nisrin al-Barwari gained four years' experience in government as a minister in the Irbil-based Kurdish regional government. She entered politics as a teenager and was imprisoned by the Baathist government at the age of 14. After the failed Kurdish uprising of 1991 she fled Baghdad, where she had just completed a degree in architectural engineering, and joined the United Nations High Commission for Refugees as an administrator.
- Water Resources: Latif Rashid
Latif Rashid is a leading member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and was the party's spokesman and representative in the UK for more than a decade.
Transport: Bahnam Zaya Bulos
Bahnam Zaya Bulos, 59, is a civil engineer from Baghdad, where he formerly worked in the private sector
- Reconstruction and Housing: Bayan Baqer Sulagh
Bayan Baqer Sulagh is a senior official of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He is a Shia Turkmen and ran SCIRI's Damascus office during the 1990s. More recently, he has represented the organisation in Lebanon and Syria from his base in Beirut.
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