BAGHDAD - The committee drafting Iraqâs new constitution was locked in last minute discussions on Tuesday to amend certain articles that were contested by Sunni Arabs, negotiators told AFP.Two-thirds of the parliamentary committee met and examined ways of making âthree possible modificationsâ to the document aimed at satisfying the Sunnis, Shia MP Abboud Wahid al-Issawi said.
The first one concerns Article 3, which stipulates that only the âArab peopleâ of Iraq are part of the Arab nation, thereby excluding the countryâs Kurds who are largely autonomous in northern Iraq and speak their own language. âThe amended article will include words stating that Iraq is a founding and active member of the Arab League and respects its charter,â he said.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa has voiced concern in August that the draft does not refer to the whole of Iraq as being part of the Arab world, saying this âdisturbedâ the 22-member pan-Arab body.
However, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has supported the clause, which was pressed for by the countryâs Kurdish population. âIf we say that all the Iraqi people are part of the Arab nation, we would be denying the existence of a Kurdish people in Iraq,â he told Al Arabiya television in August.
Another change involves Iraqâs rich water resources, the control of which has been granted by the draft to the central and regional governments, Issawi said. The modified text will say that âmanaging water resources must be done according to international laws and conventionsâ, he said. The third amendment under discussion concerns how power should be shared between the prime minister and his two deputies, who are currently Shia and Sunni.
Parliamentâs Deputy Speaker Hussein Shahristani said an announcement will be made about the constitution on Wednesday morning, and hoped that the draft committee âwill be able to agree and submit its (final) document tomorrow (Wednesday) to the United Nations.
The United Nations is responsible for seeing the document printed and distributed to some five million homes around the country ahead of a referendum expected to be held October 15. If time runs out for distribution to homes, the charter is to be printed in Iraqâs newspapers.