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Tempers fray as Iraqi lawmakers discuss
federalism
7.9.2006 |
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BAGHDAD,
September 7 ,-- Iraq's parliament agreed on Thursday
to begin looking at a potentially divisive draft law
on federalism that minority Sunnis fear could break
up the country and leave them with little access to
its oil wealth.
Iraqi lawmakers have studiously avoided the subject
since their first sitting in March, but they face a
looming deadline for determining how regions can win
autonomy under a federal constitution that was
passed last year despite Sunni opposition.
Tempers frayed and sectarian faultlines were exposed
when several Shi'ite lawmakers tried to force debate
on a Shi'ite- proposed draft law, an item not on
Thursday's agenda.
The Sunni speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, objected,
saying he had not received a copy of the draft, and
the rowdy chamber adjourned shortly after television
coverage was cut.
"This is an insult to me," Mashhadani told
lawmakers. "This proposal should have been submitted
... two days ago. I just heard about it today."
Officials in the dominant Shi'ite Alliance bloc said
on Wednesday they had completed a draft of their
proposal for a mechanism by which provinces could
form autonomous regions.
Sunnis, concentrated in Iraq's resource-poor central
and western provinces, are opposed to such a move,
fearing it would seal their political doom by giving
Shi'ites in the south and Kurds in the north control
of much of Iraq's oil.
They want a promised review of the constitution
before parliament passes any new laws that could be
overturned by constitutional amendments and a census
to determine the exact demographic makeup of Iraq's
18 provinces.
"AMEND CONSTITUTION FIRST"
"We think it is wise to amend the constitution
before we set out laws on how provinces can form
federal regions," said Saleem al-Jibouri, a
politician in the main Sunni political bloc, the
Iraqi Accordance Front.
But Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the powerful Shi'ite leader
of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq, has been forcing the pace, calling in recent
days for Shi'ites to form their own region in the
south and for a vote on the issue.
Sunni politicians said they were not opposed to
federalism being discussed in parliament but were
upset by the Shi'ite lawmakers' attempts to force it
on to Thursday's agenda.
When parliament resumed sitting, 147 of the 188
politicians present agreed to a first reading of the
Shi'ite proposal on Sunday. They also agreed that
the deadline for passing a law should be Oct. 22,
resolving an arcane dispute about which day had
constituted the first session of the present
parliament.
Sunnis said they had proposed their own draft law
that would give parliament a bigger say in the
formation of the regions.
Under the constitution, provincial administrations
will be given a strong level of autonomy, including
the right to form regional governments involving
several provinces which will be allowed to set up
their own security structures.
It is not clear though whether there are any limits
on the size of the new regions. Hakim has proposed a
"super-region" of nine provinces in the largely
stable and oil-rich Shi'ite south.
Iraq is gripped by communal bloodshed between the
once politically dominant minority Sunnis and now
ascendant majority Shi'ites that has killed
thousands.
There are also tensions between Arabs and Kurds in
the north, whose largely autonomous Kurdistan region
comprises three of Iraq's provinces.
Some diplomats have said privately the federalism
debate might be better shelved while the government
seeks to defuse the insurgency and sectarian
tensions and resuscitate the war- battered economy.
Reuters
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