Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced he is finally stepping down.  Maliki addressed Iraqis in a speech, declaring that he has accepted the candidacy of Haider al-Abadi, nominated last week by the Iraqi president to form a government.

There had been pressure for several weeks to get rid of the Shiite leader al-Maliki.  Critics say his inability or refusal to build coalitions with the Sunni and the Kurds was the precursor to the current crisis in the north, with the Sunni militant Islamic State capturing vast swaths of territory.

Finally, his own Shiite alliance had enough and nominated another member of the party, Haider al-Abadi, to replace Maliki.  President Fouad Massoum then asked Abadi to form the next government.  For days, Maliki refused to step aside and even went as far as to deploy Shiite militias around Baghdad.  But even Maliki’s closest international allies in Iran abandoned him when Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei pointedly welcoming the appointment of Abadi.