PM says Iraq charter almost done, but Sunnis reject draft
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-23 21:52

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said that almost all issues dogging the draft constitution were resolved, but Sunni Arabs warned it was divisive and would be rejected when put to the nation, AFP reported.

"We have agreed on 151 of the 153 articles in the constitution, including the federal status of the government and the status of regions and provinces," Jaafari told a press conference on Tuesday.

He said issues concerning human rights, including women's rights, have also been agreed upon.

"We have made an important stride," the Shiite prime minister said.

In a nail-biting drama, parliament on Monday received only an incomplete draft of the country's first post-Saddam constitution submitted under intense US pressure but without the approval of the Sunni Arab minority.

The charter's writers beat a midnight deadline by just a few minutes to present the constitution that will shape the future of 27 million war-battered Iraqis and could pave the way for a withdrawal of foreign troops.

But several issues remained unresolved, including the mechanism for implementing federalism, the treatment of former Saddam regime officials, and how to divide authority between the presidency, parliament and the government.

Negotiations will take place over the next three days to bridge remaining differences over the text, which must be approved in an October referendum ahead of new elections in December.

The talks are aimed largely at bringing the Sunni Arabs on board, government spokesman Leith Kubba said.

Under stiff US pressure, the Shiites and Kurds apparently reached a compromise in the text on issues including the political structure of Iraq and the relationship between religion and state.

But the Sunnis, the former elite under Saddam whose support is seen as vital in ending the raging insurgency, remained unmoved and warned Tuesday that the charter in its current form would divide the country.

"The draft is divisive. It will divide the society as there are many negatives in it," Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Motlag told AFP. "Ninety-nine percent of Sunnis are unhappy with it. It will fail during the referendum."

But the Shiite head of the constitution drafting panel, Sheikh Humam Hammudi, rejected these concerns, saying Sunni negotiators did not necessarily reflect the wishes of the minority.

"The problem is that those who represent the Sunnis were not elected so who can decide that they really represent (the Sunni population)," Hammudi said.

Sunnis oppose federalism, fearing a decentralised government will cut their share of the nation's vast oil reserves, mainly concentrated in the Kurdish north and Shiite south.

But Sunnis are politically weak, holding few seats in parliament after largely boycotting the January elections.

Hammudi outlined his backing for a decentralised structure for Iraq.

"If (the government) had a say in every matter it would become a new dictatorship," he said. "The ruler would become a dictator with the available pool of oil wealth."

But Kurds also expressed some discontent with the compromise text.

"The document will be divisive as every Sunni is against it, Kurds are lukewarm in their response, while only the Shiites may have something to take home," said one Kurdish source close to negotiations.

The United States had pressured the Kurds to climb down on two key demands -- self-determination and inclusion of oil-rich Kirkuk in their autonomous northern region, as well as softening its stand on the role of Islam.

But President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said the draft was widely agreed upon.

"The big majority of it has been agreed but three articles remain," Talabani told AFP. "Now we will give a chance to members of the national assembly to look at it and I hope within three days these problems will be solved."

Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush praised the negotiations.

"The establishment of a democratic constitution will be a landmark event in the history of Iraq and the history of the Middle East," he said in a speech in Salt Lake City.

Bush also rejected calls for an early withdrawal of US troops: "A policy of retreat and isolation will not bring us safety. The only way to defend our citizens where we live is go after the terrorists where they live."

In violence on the ground, Iraq's environment minister Narmine Othman said she survived an ambush Monday by gunmen in which her three bodyguards were wounded.

A US soldier was also killed in Baghdad Monday taking the US military losses to 1,865 according to AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

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