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TONY EASTLEY: In Baghdad, Iraq's Parliament has
given negotiators another three days to agree on a
new constitution for the country.
It came on a day of high political drama when
earlier, Shia negotiators said they'd reached an
agreement on a draft constitution with the Kurds.
But the Sunnis weren't happy, saying the draft would
lead to the federalisation of Iraq.
Negotiators now say that the final constitution is
just days away.
Doctor Leith Kubba, a spokesman for the Iraqi Prime
Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, spoke from Baghdad to
our reporter Tanya Nolan and outlined the remaining
sticking points.
LEITH KUBBA: The
most problematic issue is the wording on federalism
- to what extent this would affect the sovereignty
of the country. Is it a divided sovereignty over
land resources, borders, foreign representation and
agreements? Those are the most problematic areas.
Some compromise had been made of them.
I think this is an area that will be rejected
strongly by the Sunnis because they would like to
see the issue of sovereignty untouched in Iraq.
TANYA NOLAN: So
is it true that the Shia and the Kurd
representatives have gone ahead and written largely
the whole document without the Sunnis' involvement?
LEITH KUBBA: No,
there has been involvement throughout the process in
the last six weeks. But in the final drafting and
trying to resolve issues, it's proved impossible to
have all of them in one room trying to bring all of
them in an agreement on every issue.
So I think the two major blocks wanted to make sure
they agreed on the text and then if changes needed
to be made, at least it will be made to an agreed
text.
It's not easy but that's where we are currently.
TANYA NOLAN: It
would politically unwise not to have the Sunnis on
board but ultimately the Shia and Kurd majority
don't need Sunni support to get this document passed
in the National Assembly?
LEITH KUBBA: The
country has seen enough violence and there is
nothing clever about winning on technical points if
you know you're going to run an unstable and violent
country.
Unless we have a genuine buy-in from the Sunni
community that this is a constitution that they're
happy with and they want to proceed building the
state of Iraq on that constitution, unless we have
that, then of course we're giving… we're exposing
large numbers of people to the insurgency and that
will provide fertile recruiting grounds.
TANYA NOLAN: So
under the agreement that's been reached, I
understand that money earned from oil and gas
deposits would be shared amongst the provinces
according to the population.
Is that correct?
LEITH KUBBA:
That has always been (inaudible), this has never
been contentious. That's acceptable by all parties.
The problem was ownership of these resources - who
owns them and not simply how they are distributed.
TANYA NOLAN: So
will it be the central government that controls
existing fields and regional governments looking
after fields that aren't currently in use?
LEITH KUBBA:
Well, that's very much a contentious issue and we're
all looking to see what is the final wording on it.
TANYA NOLAN: So
that is one of the points that remains unresolved?
LEITH KUBBA:
That's one of the most problematic points, that our
debate and whatever is written about them will be
challenged by one group or the other.
TONY EASTLEY:
Doctor Leith Kubba, a spokesman for the Iraqi Prime
Minister, speaking there with Tanya Nolan about the
problems facing Iraq's legislators.
www.abc.net.au
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