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Iraqis reach breakthrough deal on charter
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-12 08:27
Iraqi negotiators reached a breakthrough deal on the constitution Tuesday,
and at least one Sunni Arab party said it would now urge its followers to
approve the charter in this weekend's referendum.
Suicide bombings and other attacks killed more than 50 people in the
insurgent campaign aimed at intimidating voters.
Under the deal, the two sides agreed on a mechanism to consider amending the
constitution after it is approved in Saturday's referendum. The next parliament,
to be formed in December, will set up a commission to consider amendments, which
would later have to be approved by parliament and submitted to another
referendum.
A schoolboy peers from behind a gate as an
Iraqi policeman stands guard outside a school that will serve as voting
station in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Oct. 11
2005.[AP] | The agreement boosts the chances that
the draft constitution will be passed Saturday. Shiite and Kurdish leaders
support the draft and the United States has been eager to see it approved to
avert months more of political turmoil, delaying plans to start a withdrawal of
U.S. forces.
In return, the agreement guarantees Sunni Arabs the ability to try later to
introduce major changes they want, aimed at reducing the autonomous powers that
Shiites and Kurds would have under the federal system created by the charter,
negotiators said.
"The important principle here is that this provides an assurance (to Sunnis)
that this constitution is not the end of history but is subject to amendment,"
said Ridha Jawad Taqi of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq,
a top Shiite party in the government.
U.S. officials have pushed the three days of negotiations between Shiite and
Kurdish leaders in the government and Sunni Arab officials, that concluded with
marathon talks at the house of President Jalal Talabani late Tuesday.
A top Sunni negotiator, Ayad al-Samarraie of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said
the measure would allow it to "stop the campaign rejecting the constitution and
we will call on Sunni Arabs to vote yes." It was unclear if parliament would
formally vote on the new deal with some lawmakers saying that measure may be
read to the National Assembly on Wednesday.
But other major Sunni parties were not present at the negotiations, and at
least one senior Sunni leader, Saleh al-Mutlaq, said he was not yet convinced by
the measure.
"The Islamic party was participating alone in these negotiations and making
its own decisions," al-Mutlaq said. "This is strange because the Iraqi Islamic
party does not represent all the Sunni Arabs but only a small percentage of
them."
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