BAGHDAD, 2 March 2004 — After days of heated debate, Iraqis yesterday reached compromise and agreed on an interim constitution. But they still face the difficult task of deciding how to form the next government and satisfy Kurdish demands.
The basic law document set national elections to be held by Jan. 31, 2005 to create a legislature, with a goal of having women in at least a quarter of the seats. But negotiators were unable to agree on many aspects of Kurdish autonomy, leaving them to be determined later.
The new constitution, a key step in the US plan to turn over power on June 30, will be signed by top American administrator L. Paul Bremer and made public tomorrow. The charter will remain in effect until a permanent constitution is drafted and ratified next year.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell hailed the move. On the CBS “Early Show,” Powell said Bremer would likely approve the document. “I expect he will,” Powell said. “This is a major achievement, only a day late, which I think is terrific. And I haven’t read all of the language that was agreed to over the weekend but I am fairly confident that Ambassador Bremer will be able to approve it.”
On the third night of marathon talks, delegates from Iraq’s Governing Council gave a standing ovation when the final deal was reached at around 4.30 a.m., said Salem Chalabi, a representative from the Iraqi National Congress.
“It was a very emotional moment,” he said. “We established a bill of rights like no other in the region. It was quite a remarkable thing. Compromises were made. Not everybody got what they wanted.”
One of the toughest issues was how to enshrine Islam in the charter. US officials and liberals on the council succeeded in ensuring Islam is “a source” of legislation out of many — as opposed to “the” principal source as conservatives had sought.
The conservatives backed down after a clause was included underlining that no legislation will be passed that contravenes the tenets of Islam, several council members said.
The members, however, were unable to agree on the terms and size of the Kurdish self-rule region in the north. Kurdish leaders had demanded the right to keep their peshmerga militia as a distinct armed force and to control oil and other resources in their region. They also sought to add districts to the autonomous area.
Council member Younadem Kana, an Assyrian Christian, said members agreed that all armed militias would be integrated eventually into an Iraqi army or the police.
Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd council member, said the Kurdish issues weren’t abandoned, but set aside, for now.
Intifah Qanbar, another Chalabi spokesman, said: “Kurdistan will continue to be federal, the rest of Iraq will be given the right to prepare to form federal states. The elected government will decide on the status of federalism and deal with this strategic situation.”
The document describes the future Iraq as a federalist state along the lines of Canada and Brazil, with considerable authority handed to individual regions — though exactly what authorities is still to be worked out. The charter would allow any of Iraq’s 18 provinces to decide to join and form a federal region, Chalabi said. That would open the door for Shiites who dominate the southern provinces to piece together their own region similar to the Kurds’ self-rule zone in the north.
— Additional input from agencies
