|
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S., British and U.N.
diplomats pressed Iraqi leaders in make-or-break
negotiations over a constitution on Thursday,
determined to see a draft of the document finalised
by the new August 22 deadline.
Senior negotiators from the Kurdish and Shi'ite
communities hinted an agreement might be reached
days before Monday's target date, but Sunni Arabs,
the third major party to the contested talks, played
down that possibility.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire with
assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades on a
mosque where the governor of the province was
meeting senior Sunni Moslem clerics and several
people were wounded, witnesses said.
North of Baghdad, four U.S. soldiers were killed by
a roadside bomb, raising the U.S. death toll to more
than 1,850 since the war in Iraq began. Insurgents
appear to have developed more powerful bombs able to
pierce newly armoured U.S. vehicles.
Talks on the constitution, which broke down before
the previous deadline on Monday, prompting an
extraordinary session of parliament to amend the law
and allow a week longer, remained divided over three
fundamental issues -- federalism, the role of Islam
and the distribution of revenue from natural
resources.
Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the drafting
committee, said talks were progressing and he
expected an agreement to be reached by August 22,
though he said he was not certain it would be signed
by minority Sunni Arabs.
"I think there will be some sort of agreement by the
deadline but the question mark is the Sunni Arabs,"
he said. "Everyone wants them to be involved, but
I'm not sure that they will come around. I'm not
sure it will include them."
The Sunnis, dominant under Saddam Hussein and for
centuries before, strongly oppose a recent proposal
by Shi'ite Arabs to create a federal region in the
south of Iraq, mirroring the autonomous zone Kurds
have enjoyed in the north since 1991.
They worry that they will be left as a minority in
the centre of the country, where there is no oil.
Othman and others in the talks said U.S., British
and U.N. diplomats were playing a prominent role,
cajoling the parties along and meeting negotiators
on the sidelines.
"Sometimes it seems it is even more important to
them that we get a deal. They are concerned, and
very active," Othman told Reuters. "If there's no
success, it affects them as well. I think they are
almost more concerned than we are."
SUNNIS NOT CONVINCED
Saleh al-Mutlak, one of the main Sunni Arab
negotiators, said he and others from his camp had
met the British and U.S. ambassadors to discuss the
issue of federalism and would sit down with the
Shi'ites and Kurds to haggle further.
"There are several points disagreed on, and I expect
we will find a compromise," Mutlak told Reuters.
At least two negotiators, from the Kurdish and
Shi'ite communities, said it might be possible to
produce a finalised document in the next couple of
days, but Mutlaq and others were not convinced.
Some Shi'ite and Kurdish negotiators have suggested
that if Sunnis cannot be brought on board by the
deadline, they may present a complete draft to
Iraq's National Assembly anyway, knowing they have
enough support to get it passed.
Such a move could prove dangerous, as one of the
hoped-for benefits of the constitution was that it
would drain support for the Sunni insurgency by
showing that Sunnis could be involved in a peaceful
political process.
Saad Qindeel, a Shi'ite negotiator, said such a
tactic could be divisive and he hoped it would not
be used. "We rely on the principle of consensus, and
Sunnis are part of that," he said, adding that he
thought the document would be ready by Monday.
In Ramadi, witnesses said provincial governor Mamoun
al- Alwani was holding talks with members of the
Moslem Clerics' Association, a leading Sunni group,
in the main al-Dawla al- Kabeer mosque when the
gunmen opened fire.
They said the governor and Thamir al-Dulaimi, the
head of the Moslem Clerics' Association in Ramadi,
escaped injury but that Dhahir al-Obeidi, head of
another Sunni organisation called the Sunni
Endowment, and his deputy, were wounded.
The attack appeared politically motivated. Militants
have vowed to kill any Sunni Arabs helping to draft
the constitution, and both the Moslem Clerics'
Association and the Sunni Endowment have been
involved in the process to a degree.
Ramadi, about 100 km west of Baghdad, has been a
stronghold of the insurgency over the past two
years. But there is also evidence that the
anti-American insurgents there reject hardline
religious militants such as Jordanian Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi and the group he heads, al Qaeda in Iraq.
Reuters
Top |
® 