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Bush
Urges Shiites to Meet Sunni Constitution Demands
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Bush wants Shiite leaders to reconcile with Sunni Arabs to keep them on board. (Reuters)
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BAGHDAD,
August 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US President
George W. Bush has personally intervened with Iraqi Shiite leaders to
reconcile with Sunni Arabs for breaking a deadlock in talks over the
new constitution as Iraqi lawmakers remained unable on Friday, August
26, to reach an agreement on the document.
Bush
phoned Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council of
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a key partner in the ruling Shiite
alliance of Premier Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, to convince him to seek an
agreement with the Sunnis on the draft, The New York Times said.
"The
Americans are very angry that the Shiites are not agreeing on
this," the mass-circulation daily quoted an unnamed Iraqi
official as saying.
"They
really want them to make these concessions to the Sunnis to keep them
on board.
"They
think that without keeping the Sunnis on board, many things will go
wrong, including the security," said the official.
Sources
close to the ruling Shiite alliance confirmed Bush's urge for meeting
the Sunni demands.
"Bush
asked him to be more flexible with regard to Sunni demands," they
told Reuters, referring to the phone call with Hakim.
The
Shiites and Kurds, who dominate the government and 210 seats in the
275-member parliament, presented the draft minutes before an extended
deadline of Monday, August 22, expired despite Sunni opposition.
In
a veiled threat to Sunnis on Tuesday, August 23, Bush said they have
to decide if they want to live in a society of freedom or violence.
Sunnis,
who reject any notion of federalism, have threatened to block the
draft in the scheduled mid-October referendum.
Under
the US-drafted interim law, the charter will fail if two-thirds of
voters in any three provinces reject it.
Sunni
Arabs form a majority in at least three provinces: Al-Anbar, Ninevah
and Salaheddin.
Deadlock
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Iraqi lawmakers stayed deadlocked on reaching an agreement on the new constitution. (Reuters)
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Meanwhile,
Iraqi negotiators remained locked down in talks Friday to try to reach
an agreement on the draft constitution after missing a third deadline
for a parliament vote, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
Jawad
Maliki, the number two in Jaafari's Dawa party, said they have made
their final proposals on the text.
"Today
we reached the final limit beyond which we can't move any
further," he noted.
"Our
final proposal stipulates removing all obstacles to federalism and
putting every obstacle in the path of the resurrection of the Baath
party and continuing to prosecute its leaders," he elaborated.
Iraqi
negotiators said talks were now focusing on the main sticking point --
federalism -- to persuade Shiites to give up demands for autonomy in
the southern and central regions.
"There
are attempts to convince the (Shiite) alliance to leave the issue of
federalism in other parts of Iraq (south and centre) for the next
parliament to deal with, and also to implement it gradually over two
or three years. Not now," said Mahmud Othman, a Kurdish panelist.
The
Shiite demand for a Kurdish-type autonomy is largely fuelled by a
desire to control a chunk of the country's vast oil reserves located
in the south.
But
the Sunni Arabs says federalism poses a threat to the country's future
unity.
"We
believe that federalism should be postponed until the next parliament
(is elected)," said Sunni negotiator Hassib Arif al-Obaidi.
"We
think that circumstances are not suitable at the moment to implement
it. We need a peaceful environment in the presence of a balanced
national assembly, in which we can discuss this matter
adequately."
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