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Iraq

Constitution drafters fight time, hard issues

BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers and politicians drafting a new constitution face an abundance of tough issues: the structure of government, federalism and the role of religion - and only five weeks to resolve them.

The daunting task is compounded by the diversity of Iraq's ethnic and religious groups, each clamoring for a charter that accommodates sometimes competing agendas. It took weeks just to agree on the makeup of the committee drafting the document.

Federalism is emerging as the stickiest issue.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the drafting committee, said those involved largely agree on a federal Iraq. But some Sunni Arabs cannot accept the concept - a deal-breaker for the Kurds who had been running their own northern region for more than a decade before the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.

"They think that federalism will lead to dividing the country. We think that it will unify the country," Othman said.

Even if all authors accept the concept, difficult details must be worked out, including the boundaries and powers of regional governments, the number of federal entities and the distribution of revenue.

The Iraqi Parliament has until Aug. 15 to adopt a draft constitution, which will be put to a nationwide referendum by mid October.

If approved, it will provide the basis for a new election in December - the last of three nationwide votes prescribed in an interim constitution.

Jawad al-Maliki, a senior Shiite lawmaker in the committee, said some Kurds want federal regions to have the right to an army and to sign agreements with neighboring countries, powers he said should only belong to the central government.

The Kurds also want their federal region to include areas "with Kurdish identity" even when they lie outside the provinces they now control, he said. "We object to such ethnic divisions," al-Maliki said.

Othman, a former member of the disbanded Iraqi Governing Council, believes regional governments should have most powers apart from foreign relations, defense and planning affairs.

He said a federal system should recognize the uniqueness of ethnic groups that have their own culture and language, adding the Kurds only want their region to include those Kurdish areas that are next to the ones they already run.

Some Shiites also have called for establishing federal regions in central and southern Iraq.

Salih al-Mutlak, a Sunni Arab politician, said he was alarmed by the proposed language. "This is the beginning of dividing Iraq," he said of some Kurdish demands.

Al-Mutlak is among 15 Sunni Arabs added to the 55-member drafting committee after some members of the minority threatened to scuttle the charter by opposing it in an October referendum unless they got more representation in the drafting phase.

Shiite and Kurdish politicians - who struck an alliance after coming first and second in historic Jan. 30 polls - know they cannot afford to alienate Sunnis Arabs, but some worry about including them.

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 23:36:03]