Sunnis suspend talks on constitution after killing

IRAQ: Sunni participation in the commission drafting a constitution for Iraq has been suspended, following the assassination on Tuesday of a leading Sunni member, Mijbil Issa.

The group to which he belonged, the National Dialogue Council (NDC) - comprising secular nationalists, former Baathists and clerics - accused political parties in the Shia-dominated government of carrying out the killing, reflecting deepening antagonism between the two communities.

Mr Issa, one of the few secular nationalists among the 17 Sunnis on the commission, was a strong opponent of federalism.

Saleh Mutlaq, head of the NDC, said this could be a reason he was murdered.

However, Washington has suggested that al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has threatened to kill Sunnis who co-operate with the government, could be culpable.

Dhamin Ilewi, one of the commission's 10 Sunni advisers, also died. On Monday, the brother of another Sunni commissioner, Abdul Rahman Naimi, was murdered in Mosul.

Arab opposition to the Kurdish demand for autonomy in a federation is one of the most contentious issues to be resolved. Sunnis and most Shias believe that Iraq needs a strong central government if it is to survive as a state.

The Arabic daily al-Hayat reported that Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, recently castigated Shia prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari for ignoring Kurdish demands for federalism and control over the oil city of Kirkuk.

He also criticised him for monopolising power and for governing in the Shia interest.

The other basic dispute involves incorporation of Islamic Sharia law.

Conservative Shia and Sunni politicians and clerics, the majority on the commission, insist that Sharia must be a main source of law. They say provisions contradicting Sharia are unacceptable and marriage, divorce and inheritance should be governed by religion or sect.

If these demands are met, women would lose equal rights enshrined in the 1959 and 1970 constitutions, and the administration of personal law by sects would exacerbate the already wide sectarian divide.

Since the end of the US-led war in April 2003, women of all communities have been compelled the wear the veil. Educated and professional women have been abused and murdered by violent Islamists.

A lengthy Sunni boycott or wrangling over these issues could delay the August 15th finalisation of the constitution. This would threaten it being voted on in a referendum on October 15th, ahead of elections for a full-term parliament on December 15th.

A bomber strapped with explosives blew himself up among a group of Iraqi army recruits at a Baghdad airfield yesterday, killing six people and wounding 25, police and hospital workers said.