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| Monday, 1 March 2004 |
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Iraqi drafters miss constitution deadline; death toll mounts BAGHDAD, Sunday (AFP) Drafters of Iraq's interim constitution missed a Saturday deadline but vowed to work on as fresh deaths marked the bloodiest month since major hostilities were declared ended 10 months ago. The Iraqi Governing Council got behind in its work after a row over the role of Islam and women exposed religious and ethnic fault lines within the US-appointed council. "We are not going to have an interim law today," said Jared Young, a spokesman for the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority. The session ended around 1:00 am Sunday. "Failure is not an option," council member Muwaffiq Rubbai told a late evening news conference in Baghdad. "We have to get this document signed and dusted and finished." While leaders showed determination, divisions remained. "We are going to have a long night," Rubbai said. The US-appointed council was charged with drafting the interim constitution to see Iraq through a June 30 transfer of sovereignty from the US-led coalition to an Iraqi interim authority. Several members walked out of Friday's session in the council's first major row. Bickering erupted over Islam, the role of women and the minutiae of federalism as the parties became polarized according to their beliefs and ethnic backgrounds. Islamists sought to repeal the 1959 family affairs code, once among the most progressive in the Middle East, and place the matter under Muslim religious jurisdiction, said Shiite council member Raja al-Khuzai. About 10 council members walked out, including Pentagon favourite Ahmed Chalabi, although he voted against the Islamists. Although the walkout raised the specter of collapse, the Shiite fundamentalist who led the boycott, Adel Abdel Mahdi, returned to the negotiations Saturday. "We expect things to be finished today or tomorrow," said his spokesman, Haytham al-Husseini, from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). In a show of force as the leaders met, almost 2,000 members of a militia loyal to a young firebrand cleric marched through the northern oil city of Kirkuk, a hotbed of ethnic tensions among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. |
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