"There are no obstacles but discussions on federalism in the south and the relation between religion and state," Talabani said (C). (Reuters)

BAGHDAD, August 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As Iraqi power-brokers confirmed Saturday, August 13, agreements on four contentious issues dogging the constitution, including sharing oil wealth, President Jalal Talabani expected the draft to he ready by Sunday, August 14, a day ahead of schedule.

"If God is willing, tomorrow it will be ready," Talabani told a news conference in Baghdad, reported Reuters.

"There are no obstacles but discussions on federalism in the south and the relation between religion and state," he said.

Talabani, a former Kurdish guerrilla who fought Saddam Hussein, has been gathering Iraqi leaders from across sectarian and ethnic divides to try and hammer out an agreement on the charter before a self-imposed August 15 deadline.

"We have finished 75 percent of the issues and we will complete the remaining 25 percent today and present the constitution to parliament tomorrow," Bahaa Al-Araji, a Shiite member of the drafting team, told Reuters.

He said the 71-member drafting committee had broadly agreed its approach to federalism, one of the most sensitive issues, relating to autonomy for regions, which could be dominated by single ethnic or sectarian groups.

Powerful Shiite leader Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim has called last week for a Kurdish-style autonomy for the central and southern regions.

It's not clear what will happen if the self-imposed deadline is missed, according to Reuters.

Some foreign diplomats working with the drafters have said a delay of one or two days might be permissible but Washington has said it expects the document to be done on time.

Amid intense US pressures, Iraqi leaders said a series of meetings in the past week had solved many stumbling issues, including distribution of the nation's oil wealth on a formula based on the population in each of the 18 provinces, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"An in principle agreement has been reached late yesterday (Friday) that Iraq's oil revenues will be shared between the Shiites, the Kurds and the Sunnis," panelist Saleh Al-Motlag told AFP.

He said oil revenues would be controlled by the federal government and distributed to the provincial governorates based on population and "certain critical requirements".

"All the groups have agreed on this," said Motlag, a Sunni Arab.

Iraq's oil reserves, the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia, are concentrated in the country's north, a region claimed by the Kurds, and in the south, dominated by the Shiites.

Most of Iraq's output of nearly two million barrels a day comes from southern oil fields, while all of the 1.6 million barrels a day of exports flow through southern terminals. Northern oil export routes remain paralyzed due to the security situation.

As for Kirkuk, a city of almost 1 million that sits atop 40 percent of the country's oilfields, or six percent of total world reserves, the drafters agreed that the situation should be "normalized" by December 15 at the latest.

Normalization could revolve around returning thousands of Kurds reportedly deported by ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

A secret American memo has revealed that Kurdish forces have abducted hundreds of Iraqi Arabs and Turkmen in Kirkuk and sent them to secret prisons in northern Iraq, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, June 15.

Iraqi leaders have further decided to officially name Iraq as the Federal Republic of Iraq and to consider the peshmerga as a security force for the Kurdish-controlled zone of northern Iraq.

A member of the drafting committee told AFP that they reached an agreement that at least 25 percent of seats in parliament should be reserved for women.

Khalilzad is said to have presented a written, US-backed approach to unresolved questions. (Reuters)

But the sticking points of federalism and the role of Islam in legislation, are still under discussion.

"I am sure we will not reach a conclusion today," Sunni panelist Abdel Nasser Al-Janabi told Reuters Saturday.

"We will postpone it to tomorrow or Monday. The sticking point is federalism. Most probably this will be postponed until after the elections."

The Shiite autonomy call has angered Sunni Arab leaders who said it could derail the entire political process.

"We are shocked and scared by the demand for autonomy as expressed by my Shiite brothers," said Motlag.

"The timing of the demand is wrong with just three days left to go for the deadline. Such demands can delay the constitution and Iraq could be without a constitution for another year."

Opposition from the Sunnis could still scupper the new constitution as the interim rules stipulate the charter can be rejected by a two-thirds majority in any three provinces. Al-Anbar, Tamim and Salaheddin are predominately Sunni.

"That Iraq is divided into cantons is what the Jews and our enemies want," said Sheikh Mehdi Al-Sulaimi, a member of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), during Friday prayers at the group's main mosque in Baghdad.

US Pressure

Meanwhile, the US administration cranked up the pressure for Iraq’s leaders to agree on a constitution before the deadline with US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad taking a leading role in the negotiations, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

For at least two days, Khalilzad held marathon talks in the fortified Green Zone with Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite panelists, it said, citing Iraqi lawmakers and committee members.

He presented a written, US-backed approach to unresolved questions, particularly the role of Islam in determining law and federalism.

The US proposal, according to politicians who have examined it, includes endorsing the principle of regional autonomy, such as that enjoyed by Kurdish-populated provinces in the north, but deferring any decision about creating new regions until after Iraq's next elections, slated for December.

US President George W. Bush has also made strong statements about the need for the constitution to be completed on time.

"We believe that constitution can be, and will be, agreed upon by August 15. I'm operating on the assumption that it will be," Bush said Thursday.

The New York Times opined Friday that if Washington wants a balanced and lasting document, it should stop insisting Iraqis keep to schedule and produce a draft constitution by Monday.

"Since this constitution will help determine whether Iraq holds together and whether the ultimate result of American military intervention will be freedom and democracy or a new religious tyranny, it would have been wiser to allow time for compromise and consensus," read the Times editorial.