Iraq's new government following Sunday's elections will face a host of problems as it tries to rebuild the country following the US-led invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein. 

Following is a summary of the main issues that will confront the new government:

Insurgency: Since the fall of Saddam in April 2003, insurgents have grown in strength and sophistication and are mounting daily ambushes, mortar attacks and suicide bombings on US-led troops, Iraqi security forces, government officials and Shi'ite groups.

Thousands have been killed and some areas of Iraq, particularly in the Sunni Muslim heartland, are effectively under the control of insurgents.

US and Iraqi officials say the backbone of the insurgency comprises Sunni Muslim nationalists, Saddam supporters and foreign fighters who have come to Iraq to join the war.

Washington's main foe in Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, remains at large despite a US$25 million price on his head. Osama bin Laden has declared Zarqawi al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq. Zarqawi's group has been behind many of the deadliest suicide attacks in Iraq and beheaded several foreign hostages.

Another Sunni Muslim group, Ansar al-Sunna, has also expanded operations in Iraq and claimed responsibility for several recent large-scale attacks on US and Iraqi forces.

Faltering reconstruction: Hopes Iraq's oil could pay for quick reconstruction have been dashed. Sabotage of oil infrastructure has badly hit exports, the economic lifeblood.

The government estimates several billion dollars in potential revenue have been lost. Insurgent violence has hampered reconstruction in several areas of Iraq, and as a result promises of jobs and prosperity have failed to materialize.

Fuel is scarce, power cuts are frequent, and water is sometimes cut off -- all adding to the resentment felt by ordinary Iraqis.

Even the mobile phone network, which was hailed as a major step forward when it was unveiled early last year, has started to collapse with coverage interrupted for hours at a time around Baghdad. Insurgents have also used it to detonate bombs remotely, creating more complications.

Ethnic and sectarian divisions: Iraq is a tapestry of ethnic and religious groups. About 60 percent of the population are Shi'ite Arabs, and the country also has sizeable Sunni Arab and Kurdish minorities as well as Turkmen and Christians.

Most Shi'ites, oppressed under Saddam, supported the polls, but many Sunni Arab groups threatened to boycott them, saying violence meant the vote would not be free or fair. The new government, likely to be dominated by Shi'ites, will have the difficult task of reaching out to Sunni Arabs.

There are also tensions over the status of Iraq's Kurds, who have controlled an autonomous zone in northern Iraq since 1991. Some Kurds want to expand their territory to include the strategic oil city of Kirkuk, but this is fiercely opposed by Arabs. The Kurdish and Turkmen communities also have a long history of mutual resentment.

Foreign troops: The presence of US-led foreign troops in Iraq is a source of bitterness for many Iraqis, even those who do not support the insurgency. Most Iraqis say they want foreign troops to leave as soon as the country is stable enough to allow this.

But Iraqi security forces remain under-trained and ill-equipped. The new government will have to try to keep resentment of foreign troops in check while building up Iraq's own forces, something more simply said than done.

Training of Iraqi security forces has been going on for more than a year but is a long way from complete. Iraqis have even lost faith in their own security forces and begun ridiculing the National Guard, which they regard as aggressive and excessively pro-American.

(China Daily February 1, 2005)