BAGHDAD, June 10: Political leaders of Iraq’s Sunni community on Friday rejected a compromise offer on giving them more say in the drafting of a constitution.
It was not clear how the Shia-dominated National Assembly and government would react to the rejection by the main Sunni political group of an offer of more seats on the parliamentary committee charged with drafting a constitution by Aug 15.
Further wrangling could jeopardize that deadline.
A spokesman for the Gathering of the Sunni People said they would hold out for 25 seats against the 15 on offer. He said the group would boycott negotiations if arbitration by a three-person panel consisting of a Sunni, a parliamentary representative and a United Nations official failed to settle the matter.
“We will not agree and will not concede any seat,” spokesman Adnan al Dulaimi said. “If they refuse our demand we will resort to arbitration. If they insist then we will suspend our participation.”
Only 17 Sunnis sit in parliament and only two are now on the 55-seat constitutional committee.
Shia leaders have offered to expand the body to 69 seats, bringing in non-legislators to give Sunnis 15 places, the same as the Kurds.
The offer was made by committee chairman Humam Hammoudi and endorsed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
The case for 25 seats has, Mr Dulaimi noted, been bolstered by support from Iraq’s Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani – even though the roughly similar Kurdish minority has only 15 seats.
It is not clear that the precise number of seats on the committee matters a great deal as the aim is to reach a consensus rather than push through a constitution by the kind of narrow majority the Shias can normally muster on their own.
Washington also says it wants Sunnis to feel included. Without them, the constitution would lack legitimacy and might fail at a referendum due by October if Sunni regions vote against it.
Engaging Sunnis in politics is seen as a way to curb violence. Ibrahim Jaafari, whose government’s formation was met with a wave of bombings in April and May, said when asked on Thursday about possible negotiations with Sunni fighters that those who ‘renounce violence’ were welcome to join the political process.
That view was echoed on Friday by a US embassy spokesman, commenting on remarks by officials that contacts with Sunni leaders have been an opportunity to pass on appeals to guerilla groups to abandon the armed struggle for politics.
“We’ve always believed that an inclusive political process is critical for Iraq’s future prosperity and we talk to Iraqis from many different groups about participating in the political process. We encourage them to engage their government,” he said. —Reuters
