Objections delay signing of interim Iraq deal

IRAQ: Last-minute objections by five leaders of Iraq's majority Shia community forced the postponement of yesterday's signing…

IRAQ: Last-minute objections by five leaders of Iraq's majority Shia community forced the postponement of yesterday's signing of an interim constitution, threatening US plans to hand sovereignty back to Iraqis on June 30th.

Political sources said the five dissenters were following the advice of Iraq's most revered Shia leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and were pushing for greater Shia 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 at 4 p.m.

But the ceremony never took place, and talks were going on late into the evening to try to salvage the deal.

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The Governing Council missed a February 28th deadline to agree the interim constitution, then Monday's deal was to be signed on Wednesday but the ceremony was postponed after bomb attacks on Shia worshippers the previous day killed 181 people.

Mr 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.

Mr Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the council, said the Shia members considered the clause 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 Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Shi'ites are eager to exert political influence equal to their numbers -- some 60 per cent of the population.

"They imagine they will have enough of a majority in the transitional national assembly that they can do away with all of the things in this period they are not comfortable with," the source said.

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, Mr 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.