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BAGHDAD: Iraqi politicians warned of political
turmoil on Tuesday after failing to meet a deadline
on the country's new constitution, but Prime
Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and U.S. officials sought
to downplay the crisis.
With negotiations deadlocked, Jaafari's government
escaped dissolution by just a few minutes on Monday
night as MPs voted through an eleventh-hour
amendment to set a new deadline for the charter to
go before Parliament.
Politicians spoke of intractable differences between
the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish representatives
battling to hammer out an agreement by the new
August 22 deadline.
But Jaafari described the delay after weeks of talks
as a "very normal" measure.
"The demography of Iraq and its complicated
political map" should be taken into consideration,
Jaafari told reporters. "The delay was for one week
only and the pending points do not need a longer
period."
But Iraqi politicians said sharp differences
remained on key questions.
"There are serious differences on issues like the
sharing of national [oil] wealth and the demand of
self-determination from the Kurds," Munther al-Fadhal,
a Kurdish-allied member of the constitution
committee said.
"This is a one-time extension ... if Iraq misses the
next deadline, we have to dissolve the national
assembly, the government will collapse and fresh
elections will have to be held."
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he was
"personally disappointed" there had been no
agreement on time, but brushed aside the damaging
scenario of negotiators missing the new deadline.
Khalilzad said it was a "mistaken concept" for
Iraqis to believe that fresh elections would solve
remaining differences over the country's future.
"Rather than posturing for electoral advantage, it
is important to focus on resolving remaining
differences," he said.
According to Khalilzad, negotiators had reached
broad agreement on issues including the role of
Islam and federalism, but "rather than saying it's
finished and we'll fine-tune it later, they decided
to go for a clean, legal option."
U.S. leaders hailed the faltering process as
"democracy at work."
"I applaud the heroic efforts of Iraqi negotiators
and appreciate their work to resolve remaining
issues through continued negotiation and dialogue,"
President George W. Bush said.
"Their efforts are a tribute to democracy and an
example that difficult problems can be solved
peacefully through debate, negotiation and
compromise."
Shiite panelist Jawad al-Maliki said he was
optimistic a deal would be reached, but indicated a
draft might be presented without all parties on
board.
"We are not seeking 100 percent consensus - the most
important thing is that the people of Iraq accept
[the constitution] in a referendum," Maliki said.
In the days leading up to the deadline, a broad
consensus had seemingly emerged between Kurds and
Shiites who both favor a federal structure for Iraq.
But the once-dominant Sunni Arabs fear a federalism
with regionally autonomous governments could leave
them without a share of the country's vast oil
reserves, which lie largely in the Kurdish zone of
the north and the Shiite south.
Although the missed deadline was on the front pages
of most newspapers, editorials hammered the
fledgling administration for ignoring basic
amenities in the war-torn country, where power cuts
and water shortages are common.
"Why talk about progress in the political process
when the quality of life is deteriorating at all
levels," said Al-Mashriq, a daily close to the
Kurdish community.
The International Monetary Fund said drafting of a
constitution would help bring the war-battered
nation's economy back on track.
AFP
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