Iraq’s leaders missed another deadline for a new Constitution on Thursday night when the ruling Shia and Kurdish coalition failed to win Sunni Arab support for the proposed draft.
A one-day extension was announced minutes after the midnight deadline but there was little sign that last-ditch talks on Friday would bridge divisions between the main ethnic and sectarian groups.
Sunni leaders, who warned that Iraq would take a step towards full-scale civil war unless the draft dropped federalism, were unconvinced by reported offers to dilute or delay the provision.
The speaker of Parliament, Hajim al-Hassani, said the elusive compromise would be found. ”We found that time was late and we saw that the matters will need another day in order to reach results that pleases everyone.”
But one Sunni negotiator, Kamal Hamdoun, said Shias skipped a meeting on Friday night, prompting Sunnis to walk out. ”Our decision is the same. This Constitution is not legitimate. They are acting according to the law of the force instead of force of the law.”
A government spokesperson, Laith Kubba, said Shias and Kurds offered to soften the provision but not enough to satisfiy Sunnis, raising the spectre of a explosive referendum battle in October.
”It is impossible to reconcile very differing views on which way Iraq should go, so there is no point in having further extensions,” said Kubba.
It is likely that the draft agreed by the Kurds and Shias will bypass Parliament, which received the text on Monday without voting, and go straight to a referendum due on October 15.
If two-thirds of voters in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces vote no, the Constitution will fall. Sunnis, a majority in four, are racing to register voters.
Kubba told the BBC he doubted that the Constitution would pass a referendum. ”My personal judgement is that it will not. We think a clear no vote is a healthy sign. Even if it means turning down the draft Constitution that’s still OK. Remember France turned down the EU Constitution. A clear yes or a clear no is what the country needs.”
But rejection in October would be a devastating setback for the Bush administration, which has pushed for political progress to deflect growing domestic criticism about involvement in Iraq.
Kubba said if a compromise deal did emerge, Parliament’s authorisation for an amended text would not be needed since it had received and implicitly accepted the bulk of the text on Monday.
No vote was taken then, and many assembly members had expected to vote on Thursday — prompting accusations that negotiators were cutting corners to salvage a deal.
The disarray came on the heels of bloody clashes between rival Shia militias which underlined the febrile mood within and between the main sectarian and ethnic groups. The Mahdi army of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who led two uprisings against US-led forces last year, fought street battles with members of the Badr organisation in the Shia holy city of Najaf and four other towns in the south.
They exchanged rocket and machine-gun fire and burned each other’s offices, leaving at least six dead and dozens injured. Violence eased when Sadr called a press conference in Najaf and pleaded for calm, urging his followers to spare the blood of other Muslims. ”I will not forget this attack on the office but Iraq is passing through a critical and difficult period that requires unity.”
The clashes exposed a power struggle between Sadr, who commands loyalty among many poor Shias, and the political wing of Badr, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri), the largest Shia party in the government.
Tension has worsened over Sciri’s push for the Constitution to allow an autonomous region in the Shia south, something Sadr fears will leave Iraq vulnerable to disintegration and Iranian meddling.
Sunnis fear federalism will leave them stranded between Kurdistan in the north and a Shiastan in the south, leaving the Arab minority in the centre with no oil and a weak government in Baghdad.
Having largely boycotted the election in January, Sunnis were powerless to block the draft Constitution but US diplomats lobbied the Kurds and Shias to bring the Arab minority on board. – Guardian Unlimited Â