Shi'ite objections delay Iraq constitution signing

11.45am

BAGHDAD - Last-minute objections by five leaders of Iraq's majority Shi'ites forced the postponement of today's signing of an interim constitution, threatening US plans to hand sovereignty back to Iraqis on June 30.

Political sources said the five dissenters were following the advice of Iraq's most revered Shi'ite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and were pushing for greater Shi'ite influence in a sovereign Iraq. That may put them on a collision course with Sunni Arabs and Kurds who also want their voices heard.

Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council announced last Monday it had agreed on an interim constitution after days of heated talks, and musicians and a choir of children had assembled for the signing ceremony.

But the ceremony never took place, and talks broke up without agreement overnight. Governing Council sources said informal consultations would be held on Saturday and Sunday, and formal talks would resume on Monday.

The Governing Council missed a February 28 deadline to agree to the interim constitution, but announced on Monday it had reached a deal. The document was initially due to be signed on Wednesday but the ceremony was postponed after bomb attacks on Shi'ite worshippers killed 181 people.

Hamid al-Bayati, from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said one major point of contention was a clause on a referendum due to be held next year to approve a permanent constitution once it has been drawn up.

The clause states that even if a majority of Iraqis approves the constitution, it can be vetoed if two-thirds of voters in three provinces reject it. The clause was inserted by the Kurds, who run three provinces in northern Iraq and want the power to veto any attempt to rein in their considerable autonomy.

SHI'ITES AT ODDS WITH KURDS

"At the last minute, the very last minute, there was a switch by the Shi'ites and they objected strongly to a clause which says that if three provinces don't agree on the constitution then it goes back (to parliament)," Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the council, told Reuters.

"They consider that a provocation and the imposition of the will of the minority on the majority."

Shi'ites had been unhappy about some aspects of the interim constitution, and one Kurdish source close to the talks said the Shi'ites had hoped their political clout would allow them to ensure the permanent constitution was more in line with their views. Veto powers for minority groups could jeopardise this.

Long oppressed by former President Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Shi'ites are eager to exert political influence equal to their numbers -- some 60 per cent of the population.

Senior coalition officials played down the delay, saying it was not about priority issues -- the role of Islam in the state and the role of women -- and differences were being settled.

"If you want neat and tidy, get a dictatorship," one official said, adding that the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, was sitting in on the council talks.

Governing Council sources said another point of disagreement was the structure of Iraq's presidential council. They said Shi'ites wanted a five-member rather than a three-member presidential council, with three Shi'ites, a Sunni and a Kurd.

Bayati said the council members who raised objections were Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of SCIRI, Ibrahim Jaafari of the Dawa party, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, current council president Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, and Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.

ROAD MAP FOR DEMOCRACY

Iraqi and US officials say the transitional constitution plans elections for a transitional assembly by the end of January 2005. That assembly will draft a permanent constitution and prepare for full polls by the end of 2005.

The document does not specify what shape the government will take when Washington hands over power on June 30, a fact some political sources said was also a problem for Shi'ite leaders.

As well as struggling to get Iraqis to agree on a political road map, the US-led administration is battling a guerrilla insurgency which officers say is increasingly being led by foreign militants, some with links to al Qaeda.

Washington says a suspected al Qaeda operative, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is the prime suspect in a string of major attacks including Tuesday's bombings.

"He's somewhere in Iraq," the US commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, General John Abizaid, said in a television interview. "We're looking for him hard and we've found quite a few of his operatives... and we've uncovered an awful lot of the work that he's doing."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq