Conflicting signals on Iraq constitution deal

BAGHDAD - Iraqi leaders made contradictory statements early on Saturday on whether they had reached a consensus deal on a draft constitution.

A spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shi'ite, said negotiators had clinched a deal with backing from all main sectarian and ethnic groups.

"This is a historic day for Iraq," he told Reuters, saying minority Sunni delegates who had rejected the draft charter's provisions for regional autonomy had accepted a compromise.

But others involved in the negotiations, including the Sunni speaker of parliament Hajim al-Hassani, denied any such accord.

"We have not reached (an agreement). I'm not aware of any deal," he told Reuters. "If we had reached a deal we would announce it."

A spokesman for President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said he was unaware of any agreement, although there had been late-night talks about a possible compromise: "They were talking until very late tonight about a possible deal. It's not very clear," Kameran Qaradaghi told Reuters.

- REUTERS