usmc4669
03-05-04, 02:42 PM
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Shiite leaders refused to sign an interim constitution Friday after their top cleric rejected parts of the charter at the last minute, delaying a signing ceremony in a dispute that marred a milestone in U.S. plans to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis.
The maneuver by five Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council broke the unity that the body showed earlier this week when it overcame deep differences to agree unanimously on a draft of the charter.
It also highlighted the power that Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani wields in the political process. The 75-year-old cleric, who holds considerable influence over Iraq's Shiite majority, has already twice derailed U.S. plans for transferring power.
Friday's signing ceremony was put on hold as council members met in an attempt to resolve the Shiite objections. Hours after the ceremony's scheduled time, it had still not begun and there was no word on when it would take place.
An audience sat waiting amid symbols of unity set up for the occasion - a sign emblazoned "We all participate in the new Iraq" and singing children in traditional garb representing the country's main ethnic groups. Twenty-five fountain pens, one for each member, were lined up on an antique desk belonging to King Feisal I, Iraq's first monarch.
The Shiite objections focused on two clauses: one that effectively gives the Kurds a veto over a permanent constitution due to be put to a referendum next year, and another on the shape of the presidency in a future government, said Hamed al-Bayati, a senior official in one of the Shiite parties that balked at signing.
Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurd on the council, denounced the Shiites for "putting obstacles in front of the declaration."
The interim constitution, which will remain in effect until national elections due by January, is a crucial part of the U.S. plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30. The Bush administration is eager to carry out the transfer well before the November presidential election.
Friday's scheduled signing already was six days late under the U.S. timetable. The Governing Council was unable to overcome sharp divisions by the Feb. 28 deadline and finally agreed on a draft Monday, only after top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer pushed them into marathon negotiations.
Then on Tuesday, suicide bombers struck Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and the city of Karbala, killing at least 181. The signing was put off for a three-day mourning period.
A coalition spokesman said Friday's delay was caused by a "technical issue" that arose in the past 24 hours. Bremer was observing Friday's talks between council members but was not intervening, in an attempt to let them work out their differences on their own, the spokesman said.
Council spokesman Hameed al-Kafaei said members were looking to rephrase some language, but not the major issues. "They will be sorted out. There is no doubt," he said. He denied there was a disagreement on the plans for the presidency.
But officials said al-Sistani appeared to be at the source of the last-minute Shiite complaints.
During negotiations last weekend on the charter, some council members complained that talks were complicated because Shiite members would agree on a point, then reverse themselves and revive the issue later after consulting with al-Sistani.
A source on the council said al-Sistani's objected to the clause in the agreed-upon charter that the Kurds had insisted on writing in to ensure that a permanent constitution, to be approved in a 2005 referendum, does not encroach on their self-rule region in the north.
The clause says that even if a majority of Iraqis support the permanent constitution, the referendum would fail if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject it. The Kurds control three provinces in the north.
"The marja'iya (al-Sistani's office) will not accept" the clause, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Some of these provinces have only 400,000 or 500,000 people. We cannot have that number of people rejecting a constitution for 25 million people," said al-Bayati, of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Renegotiating the clause, however, could threaten Kurdish support for the charter.
"The constitution was agreed upon after serious negotiations, so no power can hamper it. Any attempt to break up this agreement will be damaging for Iraq's unity," said Sard Qadir, a senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which holds a seat on the Governing Council.
The council members that refused to sign were Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress - a close Pentagon ally; Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council; Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the Dawa party; independent Shiite Mouwafak al-Rubaie; and the current council president, Shiite cleric Muhammad Bahr al-Ulloum, al-Bayati said.
Another dispute was the makeup of the presidency, al-Bayati said. The draft approved Monday set up a single president with two deputies. Al-Bayati said the Shiites were reviving their demand for a five-member rotating presidency.
Under that proposal, which was raised in the debate over the final accord, the presidency would rotate between three Shiites, a Kurd and a Sunni, giving the Shiites a dominant role.
Council spokesman al-Kafaie denied the presidency was at issue.
An armed militiaman guards Iraqi Shiites who are attending regular Friday prayers outside the Kazimiya Shrine Friday March 5, 2004 in Baghdad, the site of Tuesday's twin bombings carried out in Iraq. U.S. officials put the death toll at Tuesday's twin suicide bombings in the capital and at Karbala at 181 with 573 more injured.
The maneuver by five Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council broke the unity that the body showed earlier this week when it overcame deep differences to agree unanimously on a draft of the charter.
It also highlighted the power that Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani wields in the political process. The 75-year-old cleric, who holds considerable influence over Iraq's Shiite majority, has already twice derailed U.S. plans for transferring power.
Friday's signing ceremony was put on hold as council members met in an attempt to resolve the Shiite objections. Hours after the ceremony's scheduled time, it had still not begun and there was no word on when it would take place.
An audience sat waiting amid symbols of unity set up for the occasion - a sign emblazoned "We all participate in the new Iraq" and singing children in traditional garb representing the country's main ethnic groups. Twenty-five fountain pens, one for each member, were lined up on an antique desk belonging to King Feisal I, Iraq's first monarch.
The Shiite objections focused on two clauses: one that effectively gives the Kurds a veto over a permanent constitution due to be put to a referendum next year, and another on the shape of the presidency in a future government, said Hamed al-Bayati, a senior official in one of the Shiite parties that balked at signing.
Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurd on the council, denounced the Shiites for "putting obstacles in front of the declaration."
The interim constitution, which will remain in effect until national elections due by January, is a crucial part of the U.S. plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30. The Bush administration is eager to carry out the transfer well before the November presidential election.
Friday's scheduled signing already was six days late under the U.S. timetable. The Governing Council was unable to overcome sharp divisions by the Feb. 28 deadline and finally agreed on a draft Monday, only after top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer pushed them into marathon negotiations.
Then on Tuesday, suicide bombers struck Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and the city of Karbala, killing at least 181. The signing was put off for a three-day mourning period.
A coalition spokesman said Friday's delay was caused by a "technical issue" that arose in the past 24 hours. Bremer was observing Friday's talks between council members but was not intervening, in an attempt to let them work out their differences on their own, the spokesman said.
Council spokesman Hameed al-Kafaei said members were looking to rephrase some language, but not the major issues. "They will be sorted out. There is no doubt," he said. He denied there was a disagreement on the plans for the presidency.
But officials said al-Sistani appeared to be at the source of the last-minute Shiite complaints.
During negotiations last weekend on the charter, some council members complained that talks were complicated because Shiite members would agree on a point, then reverse themselves and revive the issue later after consulting with al-Sistani.
A source on the council said al-Sistani's objected to the clause in the agreed-upon charter that the Kurds had insisted on writing in to ensure that a permanent constitution, to be approved in a 2005 referendum, does not encroach on their self-rule region in the north.
The clause says that even if a majority of Iraqis support the permanent constitution, the referendum would fail if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject it. The Kurds control three provinces in the north.
"The marja'iya (al-Sistani's office) will not accept" the clause, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Some of these provinces have only 400,000 or 500,000 people. We cannot have that number of people rejecting a constitution for 25 million people," said al-Bayati, of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Renegotiating the clause, however, could threaten Kurdish support for the charter.
"The constitution was agreed upon after serious negotiations, so no power can hamper it. Any attempt to break up this agreement will be damaging for Iraq's unity," said Sard Qadir, a senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which holds a seat on the Governing Council.
The council members that refused to sign were Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress - a close Pentagon ally; Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council; Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the Dawa party; independent Shiite Mouwafak al-Rubaie; and the current council president, Shiite cleric Muhammad Bahr al-Ulloum, al-Bayati said.
Another dispute was the makeup of the presidency, al-Bayati said. The draft approved Monday set up a single president with two deputies. Al-Bayati said the Shiites were reviving their demand for a five-member rotating presidency.
Under that proposal, which was raised in the debate over the final accord, the presidency would rotate between three Shiites, a Kurd and a Sunni, giving the Shiites a dominant role.
Council spokesman al-Kafaie denied the presidency was at issue.
An armed militiaman guards Iraqi Shiites who are attending regular Friday prayers outside the Kazimiya Shrine Friday March 5, 2004 in Baghdad, the site of Tuesday's twin bombings carried out in Iraq. U.S. officials put the death toll at Tuesday's twin suicide bombings in the capital and at Karbala at 181 with 573 more injured.