Iraq crisis deepens as Sunnis reject deal

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s parliament convened yesterday to consider a draft constitution that minority Sunnis immediately rejected, despite strenuous US mediation in weeks of wrangling between main ethnic and religious groups.

The Sunnis’ rejection – and their prediction that the charter would be thrown out in a referendum – came despite minor concessions to them in the draft by the Shi’ites and Kurds who dominate parliament. A Sunni Arab delegate on the drafting committee said all his colleagues on the panel objected to the draft presented to parliament, and would campaign against it in the referendum, to be held by Oct.15.”We have not agreed on this constitution.We have objections which are the same as we had from day one,” Hussein al-Falluji told Reuters.”If there is no forging of the results, I believe the people will say ‘No’ to the ‘American’ constitution,” he said, referring to the referendum.Despite the objections by Sunnis – whose community is the seat of Iraq’s insurgency – President Jalal Talabani’s office said a celebration would be held there at 4pm “on the occasion of finishing drafting the constitution”.The text read out in parliament suggested limited concessions to the Sunnis – who lost their political dominance with the fall of president Saddam Hussein – notably with regard to members of his party.It bans “the Saddamist Baath and its symbols”, omitting the phrase “Baath party”, which was included in an earlier draft.Sunnis had pressed for the removal of any clauses in the draft that bar party members from public life, arguing that not all of them have blood on their hands.The text sticks to wording that says Iraq is “part of the Islamic world and its Arab people are part of the Arab nation”.Sunnis, and some Shi’ites, who are also Arabs, wanted it to say that Iraq as a whole is part of the Arab world.The Kurds of the north are Muslims, but not Arabs.The preamble made clear that Iraq was a federal republic.Sunnis’ main objection has been to federalism, which they fear could lead to the break-up of the country and leave them with a rump state minus the rich oil zones in the north and south.Forcing the pace as he has done for the past month to keep Iraqi leaders to a US-sponsored timetable, Washington’s envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was a ubiquitous presence in the meeting rooms of Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Saturday.The United States, which is eager to show that democracy can succeed in Iraq after it toppled Saddam Hussein, has been mediating during the weeks of political haggling.The Sunnis, who largely shunned a January election, giving them little voice in the present interim parliament, are now mobilising in strength for the referendum and an election due in December.An official of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said a date for the popular vote had not yet been set, but that it was likely to take place close to a deadline of Oct.15.Although the Sunnis are a minority, they comprise a majority in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces.Mustering two-thirds of the vote there would allow them to block the charter under regulations set down in an interim constitution.- Nampa-ReutersA Sunni Arab delegate on the drafting committee said all his colleagues on the panel objected to the draft presented to parliament, and would campaign against it in the referendum, to be held by Oct.15.”We have not agreed on this constitution.We have objections which are the same as we had from day one,” Hussein al-Falluji told Reuters.”If there is no forging of the results, I believe the people will say ‘No’ to the ‘American’ constitution,” he said, referring to the referendum.Despite the objections by Sunnis – whose community is the seat of Iraq’s insurgency – President Jalal Talabani’s office said a celebration would be held there at 4pm “on the occasion of finishing drafting the constitution”.The text read out in parliament suggested limited concessions to the Sunnis – who lost their political dominance with the fall of president Saddam Hussein – notably with regard to members of his party.It bans “the Saddamist Baath and its symbols”, omitting the phrase “Baath party”, which was included in an earlier draft.Sunnis had pressed for the removal of any clauses in the draft that bar party members from public life, arguing that not all of them have blood on their hands.The text sticks to wording that says Iraq is “part of the Islamic world and its Arab people are part of the Arab nation”.Sunnis, and some Shi’ites, who are also Arabs, wanted it to say that Iraq as a whole is part of the Arab world.The Kurds of the north are Muslims, but not Arabs.The preamble made clear that Iraq was a federal republic.Sunnis’ main objection has been to federalism, which they fear could lead to the break-up of the country and leave them with a rump state minus the rich oil zones in the north and south.Forcing the pace as he has done for the past month to keep Iraqi leaders to a US-sponsored timetable, Washington’s envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was a ubiquitous presence in the meeting rooms of Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Saturday.The United States, which is eager to show that democracy can succeed in Iraq after it toppled Saddam Hussein, has been mediating during the weeks of political haggling.The Sunnis, who largely shunned a January election, giving them little voice in the present interim parliament, are now mobilising in strength for the referendum and an election due in December.An official of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said a date for the popular vote had not yet been set, but that it was likely to take place close to a deadline of Oct.15.Although the Sunnis are a minority, they comprise a majority in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces.Mustering two-thirds of the vote there would allow them to block the charter under regulations set down in an interim constitution.- Nampa-Reuters