Sunni leaders on Saturday failed to agree on a boycott of this week’s referendum on a new Constitution, a move that would have exacerbated Iraq’s political and security crisis.
However, they said they hoped that those voters who do participate will vote no. Members of several Sunni groups, including the Muslim Clerics’ Association and the Iraqi National Dialogue, had gathered at Baghdad’s Um al-Kura mosque at the start of a process of consultations that could last until the poll on Saturday.
The meeting came as the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, sent a delegation to Iraq, warning that the situation was now so tense that ”civil war could erupt at any moment”.
The Shia majority, which backs the Constitution, is expected to support it in force — but it will fail if it is rejected by two thirds of voters in three of the country’s 18 provinces.
Sunnis claim that the Constitution, which was drafted principally by members of the Shia and Kurdish-led government, ignores Sunni concerns over federalism, removal of Baathist influence and the sharing of Iraq’s oil resources. Sunnis complain that many articles in the proposed Constitution have been tailor-made to benefit Shia and Kurd demands.
Sunni leaders will have to decide whether they have sufficient support to reject the Constitution. If not, they may call for a fresh boycott and undermine the legitimacy of the poll. Both strategies carry high risks.
For their part, Sunni-led insurgents have vowed to wreck the referendum, launching a fresh wave of attacks that have killed more than 305 people in the past two weeks.
Harith al-Dhari, head of the Muslim Clerics’ Association, one of the Sunni groups taking part in Saturday’s meeting, said: ”We are opposed to the Constitution anyway. But now we will decide even whether we will turn up to vote.
”We are not asking the Iraqi people to boycott or not. We ask them to do everything they legitimately can to reject the draft of the Constitution,” he said, leaving followers to choose whether that is to vote no or to stay at home.
If Sunni Arabs, who make up about 20% of Iraq’s population, boycott the vote, the referendum will pass, but it will be seen as lacking credibility because it failed to engage Sunni concerns.
The latest moves came as the Iraqi government said that it would introduce new security measures, including a curfew, a weapons ban and a closure of the borders ahead of the poll.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabr announced security measures similar to those imposed during January’s parliamentary elections, in an attempt to prevent attacks. ”We will protect those who say yes and those who say no,” Bayan said on Saturday. ”We have counter-measures against all terrorist actions, and you will see tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces deployed in Baghdad and the provinces.”
A public holiday will be declared from Thursday to Sunday, with a nightly curfew running on the same days, as well as a ban on carrying even licensed weapons in public. – Guardian Unlimited Â