|
The speaker of Iraq's Parliament announced a one-day
extension early Friday in talks on Iraq's new
constitution — a fourth attempt to win Sunni Arab
approval. But he said that if no agreement is
reached, the document would bypass parliament
completely and be decided in an Oct. 15 referendum.
Hajim al-Hassani, speaking minutes after the
midnight deadline, said after meeting for three
days, "we found that time was late and we saw that
the matters will need another day in order to reach
results that please everyone."
Earlier, however, a negotiator said Shiites didn't
even show up for a late-night meeting.
The United States hopes the constitution will
invigorate a political process that will — in time —
lure disaffected Sunni Arabs away from the
Sunni-dominated insurgency so that American and
other foreign troops can begin to go home next year.
However, the perception that the Shiites and Kurds
rammed through a document unacceptable to the Sunnis
could produce a backlash among Sunni Arabs and
sharpen religious and ethnic tensions.
Although the constitution requires only a simple
majority in the referendum, if two-thirds of the
voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote
against it, the charter will be defeated. Sunni
Arabs are about 20 percent of the national
population but form the majority in at least four
provinces.
If voters reject the constitution, parliament will
be dissolved and elections held by Dec. 15 to form a
new one. The new parliament then starts drafting a
new constitution.
The deadlock on the constitution came as Shiite
leaders called for an end to fighting between rival
Shiite groups, and police found the bodies of 36
men, bound and shot in the head, near the Iranian
border — apparent victims of Iraq's worsening
communal tension.
The violence was a clear sign of the need for a
stable, constitutional government in Iraq —
something all sides agree on. But a formula that
pleases Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other groups has
proven elusive.
Shiites and Kurds had accepted a draft on Monday but
Sunni Arabs opposed it, and al-Hassani had granted
three more days to try to bring the Sunnis on board.
Monday was the second deadline which the legislature
granted after the drafting committee failed to meet
the Aug. 15 date set in the interim constitution.
The parliament speaker said that discussions in the
past three days were "very good in which points of
views were exchanged." He said they discussed
federalism, references to Saddam Hussein's Baath
party and the constitution's introduction.
Al-Hassani said discussions continued Thursday and
were attended by the Kurdish coalition, Iraqi List
party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Sunni
Arabs. After those discussions, he said, suggestions
were taken to the Shiite alliance, the largest bloc
in the National Assembly.
But compromise did not appear likely.
Senior Shiite negotiator Ali Dabbagh said that the
Shiite alliance in parliament wants the people to
decide on the constitution in the referendum and
resist any further changes to the draft.
Some Shiites maintained there was no need for a
parliamentary vote because the constitutional
drafting committee had met its legal obligation by
handing in a draft on Monday.
Al-Hassani, a Sunni who was elected on the mostly
Sunni ticket headed by former President Ghazi al-Yawer,
agreed.
"We legally received the draft. We are optimistic,
although there are some differences. But if we will
not be able to reach agreements in the end, this
constitution is going to be presented for the Iraqis
in a Oct. 15 referendum."
"Legally we do not need the parliament to vote on
the draft, but we need only a consensus so that all
the Iraqis will say yes to the constitution," he
said. "I still believe that the door is wide enough
for reaching agreements."
The interim constitution, adopted when the U.S.-led
coalition ran the country, states simply that
parliament "shall write the draft of the permanent
constitution" and that the document "shall be
presented to the Iraqi people for approval in a
general referendum by Oct 15."
However, lawmakers had agreed when the committee
began its work to produce a "consensus" document
acceptable to representatives of all of Iraq's
cultural, religious and ethnic groups in a bid for
national unity.
A successful parliamentary vote would reaffirm that
unity and send a strong signal to the Iraqi people
that the constitution deserved their support.
As a sign of deep religious and ethnic tensions in
Iraq, police found the bodies of 36 men Thursday in
a dry river bed near the Iranian border, their hands
bound and with bullet wounds in the head. The bodies
contained no identification and police said most
were wearing baggy trousers favored by Kurds. But
when photographers arrived, they saw the bodies
wearing normal clothing.
Gunmen opened fire Thursday on cars owned by
President Jalal Talabani, killing eight of his
bodyguards and wounding 15, a security official
said. Talabani, a Kurd, was not in any of the cars
when the attack occurred in a mixed Shiite-Sunni
area north of Baghdad.
The Sunnis' main objection to the draft constitution
is federalism. Under the draft, Shiites in the south
and Kurds in the north would each be able to
organize themselves into regions that would have
considerable power over the central government.
The Sunni Arab minority, concentrated in central and
western Iraq, fears that means they will be squeezed
out of revenues from Iraq's oil revenues,
concentrated in the north and south. While the
Sunnis accept a Kurdish autonomous region, they fear
a Shiite region will lead to the breakup of the
country, Iranian domination and a weakened central
government.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr shares Sunni
objections to federalism and other parts of the
draft and may well join forces with the Sunnis in
the referendum. Al-Sadr's followers have joined
Sunni hard-liners in recent protests against the
constitution.
Al-Sadr's potential role was thrown into sharp focus
Wednesday when clashes broke out between his
followers and those of the biggest Shiite party
after a brawl in front of his office in Najaf left
four dead and the building in flames.
Al-Sadr's followers blamed the Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, which
holds key posts in the government and on the
constitutional committee. Fighting occurred in major
Shiite cities including Basra, Amarah, Kut, Samawah
and Nasiriyah.
On Thursday, however, al-Sadr called on his
followers to end the clashes in the interest of
Shiite unity. In calling for calm, al-Sadr, who led
two uprisings against U.S. forces last year. urged
"all believers to spare the blood of the Muslims and
to return to their homes."
"I will not forget this attack on the office ... but
Iraq is passing through a critical and difficult
period that requires unity," he told reporters in
his home in Najaf.
He demanded that Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of
SCIRI, condemn "what his followers have done."
"I urge the believers not to attack innocent
civilians and not to fall for American plots that
aim to divide us," al-Sadr said. "We are passing
through a critical period and a political process."
SCIRI denied any role in the attack on al-Sadr's
office and issuing a statement urging an end to the
bloodshed — also calling it "a plot that targets our
unity."
AP
Top |
® 