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No agreement reached on Iraqi
constitutional amendments
15.5.2007
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May 15, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A parliamentary committee
set up to study amendments to Iraq's constitution
has failed to agree on a number of issues and will
seek a weeklong extension of its deadline to present
a report to parliament, lawmakers said Monday.
The 30-member committee was to present its report
Tuesday -- four months after it was established.
Amending the constitution to address Sunni Arab
concerns is one of the key benchmarks for measuring
political progress in Iraq.
But the committee was unable to agree on
recommendations and lawmakers said it would ask for
an extension until May 22, the next time parliament
is scheduled to meet.
Iraqi politicians said the major stumbling block was
a provision about the future of the oil-rich city of
Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to annex into their
semiautonomous northern region. Arabs and Turkomen
object.
The constitution provides for a referendum by the
end of the year in which Kirkuk residents will
decide whether the area joins the Kurdish region or
remains under central government authority.
Lawmakers cited other differences, including whether
to describe Iraq as an Arab country as Sunnis have
demanded, and the powers of the prime minister. But
some Sunni officials said the widest differences
were over Kirkuk.
Iraqis ratified the constitution in an October 2005
referendum, but substantial numbers of Sunni Arabs
voted against it. The document was hammered out
during protracted negotiations under intense U.S.
pressure.
At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged the
document did not satisfy Sunnis, but argued the
differences could be resolved later by amendments.
Sunni leaders agreed to sign off on the draft only
after the Shiites and Kurds agreed to study
amendments.
Under the constitution, the committee's
recommendations will be voted on by parliament as a
single package. If adopted by a simple majority, the
amendments will be presented to the voters in a
referendum.
Sunni Arabs, as well as some politicians from the
majority Shiites, fear the Kurds may decide to break
with Iraq and establish their own independent
country if they get their hands on Kirkuk's vast oil
wealth.
Sunni Arabs have proposed extending the deadline for
the referendum for a year, according to Sunni Arab
lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar.
Salim Abdullah, another Sunni Arab lawmaker, said a
compromise was under study, but declined to give
details.
Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish lawmaker,
said the Kurdish bloc in parliament remained adamant
that a referendum on Kirkuk be held before the end
of the year.
The lawmakers said the committee was still studying
amendments to reduce the powers of the prime
minister and give a bigger say in running he country
to the president and his two deputies.
President Jalal Talabani is a Kurd. His two deputies
are Tariq Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, and Adil
Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite.
Hashemi has been pressing for a greater role for the
three-man presidential council to offset what he
sees as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's excessive
powers.
AP
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