Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Committee to seek extension on constitutional amendments
Politics
(AP) - A parliamentary committee set up to study amendments to Iraq's constitution has failed to agree on a number of issues and will seek a weeklong extension of its deadline to present a report to parliament, lawmakers said Monday. The 30-member committee was to present its report Tuesday - four months after it was established. Amending the constitution to address Sunni Arab concerns is one of the key benchmarks for measuring political progress in Iraq.
But the committee was unable to agree on recommendations and lawmakers said it would ask for an extension until May 22, the next time parliament is scheduled to meet. Iraqi politicians said the major stumbling block was a provision about the future of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to annex into their semiautonomous northern region. Arabs and Turkomen object. The constitution provides for a referendum by the end of the year in which Kirkuk residents will decide whether the area joins the Kurdish region or remains under central government authority.
Lawmakers cited other differences, including whether to describe Iraq as an Arab country as Sunnis have demanded, and the powers of the prime minister. But some Sunni officials said the widest differences were over Kirkuk. Iraqis ratified the constitution in an October 2005 referendum, but substantial numbers of Sunni Arabs voted against it. The document was hammered out during protracted negotiations under intense U.S. pressure. At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged the document did not satisfy Sunnis, but argued the differences could be resolved later by amendments.
Sunni leaders agreed to sign off on the draft only after the Shiites and Kurds agreed to study amendments. Under the constitution, the committee's recommendations will be voted on by parliament as a single package. If adopted by a simple majority, the amendments will be presented to the voters in a referendum. Sunni Arabs, as well as some politicians from the majority Shiites, fear the Kurds may decide to break with Iraq and establish their own independent country if they get their hands on Kirkuk's vast oil wealth.
Sunni Arabs have proposed extending the deadline for the referendum for a year, according to Sunni Arab lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar. Salim Abdullah, another Sunni Arab lawmaker, said a compromise was under study, but declined to give details. Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish lawmaker, said the Kurdish bloc in parliament remained adamant that a referendum on Kirkuk be held before the end of the year.
The lawmakers said the committee was still studying amendments to reduce the powers of the prime minister and give a bigger say in running he country to the president and his two deputies. President Jalal Talabani is a Kurd. His two deputies are Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, and Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite. Al-Hashemi has been pressing for a greater role for the three-man presidential council to offset what he sees as al-Maliki's excessive powers.
But the committee was unable to agree on recommendations and lawmakers said it would ask for an extension until May 22, the next time parliament is scheduled to meet. Iraqi politicians said the major stumbling block was a provision about the future of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to annex into their semiautonomous northern region. Arabs and Turkomen object. The constitution provides for a referendum by the end of the year in which Kirkuk residents will decide whether the area joins the Kurdish region or remains under central government authority.
Lawmakers cited other differences, including whether to describe Iraq as an Arab country as Sunnis have demanded, and the powers of the prime minister. But some Sunni officials said the widest differences were over Kirkuk. Iraqis ratified the constitution in an October 2005 referendum, but substantial numbers of Sunni Arabs voted against it. The document was hammered out during protracted negotiations under intense U.S. pressure. At the time, U.S. officials acknowledged the document did not satisfy Sunnis, but argued the differences could be resolved later by amendments.
Sunni leaders agreed to sign off on the draft only after the Shiites and Kurds agreed to study amendments. Under the constitution, the committee's recommendations will be voted on by parliament as a single package. If adopted by a simple majority, the amendments will be presented to the voters in a referendum. Sunni Arabs, as well as some politicians from the majority Shiites, fear the Kurds may decide to break with Iraq and establish their own independent country if they get their hands on Kirkuk's vast oil wealth.
Sunni Arabs have proposed extending the deadline for the referendum for a year, according to Sunni Arab lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar. Salim Abdullah, another Sunni Arab lawmaker, said a compromise was under study, but declined to give details. Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish lawmaker, said the Kurdish bloc in parliament remained adamant that a referendum on Kirkuk be held before the end of the year.
The lawmakers said the committee was still studying amendments to reduce the powers of the prime minister and give a bigger say in running he country to the president and his two deputies. President Jalal Talabani is a Kurd. His two deputies are Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, and Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite. Al-Hashemi has been pressing for a greater role for the three-man presidential council to offset what he sees as al-Maliki's excessive powers.
Labels: Article 140, Iraqi constitution, Kirkuk, referendum
