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Iraq-Jordan
Iraq Charter Update Fails
2005-09-07
Iraq's main Shiite and Sunni Muslim sects abandoned efforts to amend a draft constitution yesterday and a version rejected by many Sunnis will be printed. "The talks have ended. We did not reach any agreement on making changes to the draft. It will be printed in the form it was read to the National Assembly last week," Bahaa Al-Araji, a member of the parliamentary drafting committee, told Reuters.

"No changes will be made," he said, adding that five million copies will be printed, starting tomorrow. The constitution, due to be voted on in a referendum by Oct. 15, has been a source of tension in Iraq as Sunnis, long the dominant political force, fear losing influence to majority Shiites, who were oppressed under Saddam Hussein. The government is largely composed of southern Shiites and Kurds from the north, and, backed by US troops, faces a Sunni insurgency. The Sunni minority could also kill the constitutional draft at the referendum if it can muster a two-thirds majority of no votes in three of Iraq's 18 provinces.
Posted by:Fred

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