Who's who in Iraq's new cabinet

After five months of negotiations following December's general elections Iraq's parliament has approved a new government, including members of the main Shia Muslim, Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties.

NOURI MALIKI (SHIA) - PM

Mr Maliki is a stalwart of the Dawa party, the Shia political group that for years led an armed underground resistance to the secular Baathist leadership of Saddam Hussein. Mr Maliki fled the country in 1980 and eventually finding refuge in Syria, returning after Saddam Hussein's overthrow.

Nouri Maliki profile

BARHAM SALEH (KURD) - DEPUTY PM

An official of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan since 1998, Mr Saleh became prime minister of the PUK-led regional government in January 2001. He survived an assassination attempt at his home in April 2002. He joined the Iraqi transitional government in June 2004 as deputy prime minister for security affairs.

SALAM ZAUBAI (SUNNI) - DEPUTY PM

Mr Zaubai's political group is part of the main Sunni Arab coalition, the Iraqi Accordance Front. Although from a well-known tribe, he has not been high profile. He heads the Agriculture Engineers Union.

LT GEN ABDUL QADIR OBEIDI (SUNNI) - DEFENCE MINISTER

Lt Gen Obeidi served in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein, but was demoted for opposing the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He says that he was forced to retire in 1992 and detained two years later. He faced a military court which ordered the confiscation of his house and other assets. He insists that he has no links to any Iraqi political faction.

JAWAD BULANI (SHIA) - INTERIOR MINISTER

Mr Bulani was a member of Iraq's interim Governing Council in 2004. He became a member of the Iraqi parliament in 2005. During the rule of Saddam Hussein he was an air force engineer but left the armed forces in 1999.

SHIRWAN WAIL (SHIA) - MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY

HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI (SHIA) - OIL MINISTER

Dr Hussein Shahristani, a Shia nuclear scientist, was once director of research at the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission. Whilst director he was imprisoned for possessing a subversive leaflet condemning the repression of Iraqi Shias. He fled Iraq in 1991 after being imprisoned for refusing to work in Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme and worked for human rights organisations in Iran and London thereafter.

HOSHIYAR ZEBARI (KURD) - FOREIGN MINISTER

Mr Zebari was the foreign spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party for more than 10 years. He frequently represented the KDP in meetings with US State Department 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.

HASHIM AL-SHEBLI (SUNNI) - JUSTICE MINISTER

Previously appointed human rights minister, he rejected the post after being approved by parliament on 8 May, saying he had not been consulted.

OTHER MINISTERS

Ali al-Shemari (Shia) - Health minister
Khudayer al-Khuzaie (Shia) - Education minister
Bayan Jabr (Shia) - Finance minister
Abed Falah al-Sudani (Shia) - Trade minister
Karim Waheed (Shia) - Electricity minister
Fawzi al-Hariri (Kurd) - Industry minister
Latif Rashid (Kurd) - Water resources minister
Bayan Dazee (Kurd) - Housing and construction minister
Yarrub Nazim (Shia) - Agriculture minister
Abed Theyab (Sunni) - Higher education minister
Karim Mahdi (Shia) - Transport minister
Abdul-Samad Rahman (Shia) - Migration minister
Adel al-Assadi (Shia) - Minister of state for civil society affairs
Safa al-Safi (Shia) - Minister of state for House of Representatives' affairs
Jassim Mohammed Jaafar (Shia) - Youth and sports minister
Liwa Semeism (Shia) - Minister of state for tourism and archaeology affairs
Ali Baban (Sunni) - Planning and development cooperation minister
Mohammed Tawfiq (Shia) - Communications minister
Mahmoud Mohammed al-Radhi (Shia) - Labour and social affairs minister
Riyad Gharib (Shia) - Municipalities and public works minister
Narmin Othman (Kurd) - Environment minister
Assad Kamal Mohammed (Kurd) - Culture minister
Fatin Abdel-Rahman (Sunni) - Minister of state for women's affairs
Saad Tahir Abid (Sunni) - Minister of state for provincial affairs
Raed Fahmi (Sunni) - Science and technology minister
Wijdan Mikaeil (Christian) - Human rights minister
Rafaa al-Esawi (Sunni) - Minister of state for Foreign Affairs
Akram al-Hakim (Shia) - Minister of national dialogue
Mohammed Abbas Auraibi (Shia) - Minister of state
Ali Mohammed Ahmed (Kurd) - Minister of state
Hassan Rhadi Khazim (Shia) - Minister of state