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BAGHDAD, June 22 (Reuters) - Minority Sunni Arab
political leaders in Iraq have formed a team to
negotiate the text of a new constitution but, with a
mid-August deadline pressing, full talks may be
delayed -- by a water shortage in Baghdad.
A Sunni spokesman and senior member of the
parliamentary drafting body told Reuters on
Wednesday the Sunni team had been named and accepted
by the mainly Shi'ite and Kurdish lawmakers. But a
week's parliamentary recess caused by a lack of
water and air-conditioning could delay full talks
until at least Tuesday.
Low Sunni turnout at January's election left the
minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein
almost without representation on the parliamentary
committee which aims to propose a new text by Aug.
15, ahead of an October referendum.
Now 15 Sunnis from outside parliament have been
named to an expanded constitutional drafting
committee of 70 members, on which Sunnis will have
17 seats. But these and 10 further Sunni
"consultants" are waiting for approval from a
session of the National Assembly before joining
negotiations, Imad Mohammed Ali, a spokesman for the
Sunni Gathering, told Reuters.
"The National Assembly should now issue a statement
welcoming the participation of those who didn't take
part in the elections so that they start taking part
in the constitutional committee," he said.
The delay comes as the United States, European Union
and others, at a conference in Brussels, threw their
weight behind Iraqi government efforts to include
Sunnis in the political process, despite the violent
insurgency among some Sunni Arabs.
Reuters
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