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Push for a Shiite State snags Iraq negotiations
13.8.2005
By Ashraf Khalil
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Sunnis want the nation's
Arabs under a strong central government, though they
accept semi- independence for the Kurds in the
north.
BAGHDAD - A proposal to establish a
semi-independent state in the oil-rich Shiite Muslim
heartland in southern Iraq has polarized
negotiations over the country's new constitution,
with a Monday deadline looming for submission of the
document to parliament.
Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni Arab negotiators met
through the Arab weekend Friday, with the most
divisive remaining roadblock the proposal for a
federalist system with strong regional governments
tied to a relatively weak central authority in
Baghdad.
"That's the biggest one," said Iyad Samarrai, a
Sunni and a senior official with the Iraqi Islamic
Party who took part in Friday's talks. "When this
issue is solved, all the others will be solved."
Kurdish and Shiite politicians have backed a
scenario that would essentially split Iraq into
three semiautonomous regions: a Kurdish north, Sunni
Arab middle and Shiite Muslim south.
"The only problem is with our Sunni brothers. We and
the Kurds are in agreement," said Jawad Maliki, a
senior Shiite politician and member of the committee
drafting the constitution. The Sunnis, he
complained, "only want federalism for the Kurds."
Still, Maliki predicted the negotiations would wrap
up ahead of schedule.
"God willing, we'll be finished and ready to present
to the National Assembly on Sunday," he said.
Iraq's Kurdish north has enjoyed de facto autonomy
since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when the
region came under U.S. and British protection from
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces.
The continuation of Kurdish autonomy has been
expected, but Sunni groups, including Samarrai's
party, remain deeply opposed to extending the
Kurdish model to other parts of the nation.
"We accept the federal system for Kurdistan,"
Samarrai said. "But we prefer the Arab regions in
Iraq to live in a centralized system."
Kurds and Shiite Muslims have a long history of
oppression at the hands of a strong central
government dominated by minority Sunnis, and they
are leery of concentrating too much authority in
Baghdad. Sunnis, however, fear the creeping
disintegration of the country.
The issue is intertwined with economics.
Iraq's considerable oil wealth is concentrated in
the north and south, and Kurds and Shiites argue
that each regional government should receive the
lion's share of its area's oil revenue.
To Sunnis, whose simmering sense of alienation fuels
the country's insurgency, that prospect conjures
visions of thriving Kurdish and Shiite mini-states
sandwiching an impoverished Sunni dustbowl.
Shiite politicians have long discussed establishing
an autonomous southern state, particularly around
the city of Basra, which is home to more than half
of Iraq's oil wealth and for decades has seen most
of the revenue flow north to the capital. But the
issue gained momentum Thursday when Abdelaziz Hakim,
leader of the powerful Shiite parliamentary bloc,
publicly endorsed the idea.
Samarrai downplayed the significance of Hakim's
statement, saying, "What concerns me is what happens
behind closed doors." He predicted the issue would
not be resolved in time to be included in the formal
constitution and recommended delaying the debate and
submitting a document that doesn't mention
federalism. He proposed waiting for a "healthy
environment" and continuing the federalism debate in
parliament or via referendum.
"In principle, it's acceptable," Samarrai said. "But
we are not in a position to go through all these big
changes."
The rhetorical battles over federalism carried over
to the nation's mosques Friday.
In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, imam Sadruddin
Qubanchi derided the "obsession" of critics who say
federalism will lead to the disintegration of Iraq.
"We can't have two systems in the same country, one
federal and the other not," Qubanchi said. "Anyway,
the federalism that we believe in is the one that
unites the people of Iraq, not separates them."
In Baghdad's Sunni Umm al Qura Mosque, imam Mahmoud
Sumaidai called federalism a "trap [that] is being
made for us by the enemies to divide our Iraq."
"The Kurds in the north have their own special
case," Sumaidai said. "But dividing the country into
three regions is not acceptable."
If Shiite and Kurdish politicians push through a
federalist plan against Sunni objections, the same
Sunni community that largely stayed away from
January's parliamentary elections could turn out in
force to reject the constitution in a national
referendum scheduled for October.
Perhaps gearing up for such a fight, Sumaidai, in
his sermon, launched an early effort to get out the
vote. But he left it open as to which way Sunni
citizens would be asked to cast their ballots.
"We are asking all to participate in the elections,"
he said. "We need your vote to say yes or no for the
constitution with enough weight."
Special correspondent Saad Fakhrildeen in Najaf
and staff writer Saif Rasheed in Baghdad contributed
to this report.
www.latimes.com
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