Federalism
has indeed proved to be the most contentious issue that ruled out any
accord.
The
preamble stipulates that “the Federal Republic of Iraq is made up of
a capital, regions, decentralized provincial and local
administrations” and “the Iraqi regime is republican, federal,
democratic and pluralist.”
The
draft constitution, once adopted, recognizes the Kurdistan region.
Sunnis'
main objection has been to federalism, which they fear could lead to
the break-up of the country and leave them with a rump state minus the
rich oil zones in the north and south.
Kurdish
autonomy, secured after the 1991 Gulf War, has been less of an issue
but Sunnis are wary of demands from some Kurds to push for a
possibility of outright secession.
But
the Sunnis are strongly against giving the Shiites a Kurdish-style
autonomy in the south and central Iraq and reject the mention of
“provinces” in the draft; namely, the establishment of another
province other than the Kurdistan province which in effect has been
enjoying autonomy status since 1970.
The
Sunnis want the text to be amended to a country with “one capital,
one province, decentralized governorates and a local
administration.”
The
current text states: “After six months, parliament in its first
meeting will vote by simple majority on a law regulating the creation
of regions. One or more provinces have the right to create a region.
“Regional
governments have the right to exercise legislative, executive and
judicial powers, except for the prerogatives reserved for the federal
authorities.”
“Governorates
that are not integrated in a region will be given administrative
jurisdiction and adequate financial capacity to administer themselves
according to the principles of decentralization. The governorates'
cabinet is not placed under the control of any minister or other
institution.”
The
Shiites and some Sunnis are further against the return of Kurds and
Turkomans forced to flee their homes in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk by
the toppled regime, referring the issue to the new parliament to be
elected after the adoption of the draft.
Another
complicating factor is the emergence of divisions among the Shiites
themselves represented in the fierce opposition to the draft in its
current form by leaders Moqtada Al-Sadr and Jawad Al-Khalsi.
Abdel
Hadi Al-Daraji, a Sadr’s spokesman, said Sunday that the
anti-occupation firebrand will vote the draft down and urged his
hundreds of thousands of followers to do the same.
Clashes
that erupted also last week between supporters of the powerful Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and Sadr’s
followers brought into public view long-standing fault lines in Iraqi
politics.
Identity,
Islam
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Khalilzad made ubiquitous appearance at closed meeting rooms.
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The
identity of Iraq and the role of Islam have further caused deep
friction among the Iraqi negotiators and even caused controversy
across the Arab world.
The
text sticks to wording that says Iraq is “a multinational,
multi-confessional and multicultural country. It is part of the Muslim
world and its Arab people are part of the Arab nation.”
Sunnis
wanted it to say that Iraq as a whole is part of the Arab world. The
Kurds of the north are Muslims, but not Arabs.
The
draft also says the official languages are Arabic and Kurdish, to be
used in institutions such as parliament, the cabinet and courts.
The
Sunnis have demanded that the Kurdish language be given official
status only in the Kurdish region.
The
text also states that “Islam is the religion of the state and a main
source of legislation and the constitution guarantees freedom of
religion and freedom to practice religion.”
The
Sunnis want Islam to be declared as “the religion of the state and
the main source of legislation.”
The
wording drew harsh words from senior Arab officials, chiefly the
chiefs of the Arab League (AL) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
“I
don't buy this and I find in this a true recipe for chaos and perhaps
a catastrophe in Iraq and around it,” AL Secretary General Amr
Moussa said Monday.
GCC
Secretary General Abdel Rahman Al-Attiya said the Iraqis should give
this “disastrous” draft a second reading to maintain the
territorial integrity and unity of Iraq.
Abdullah
Al-Ashal, a former Egyptian assistant foreign minister, called on the
Arab world “not to leave Iraq’s fate in the hands of a handful of
irresponsible politicians.”
“Iraq
is an Arab and Islamic country and should remain as such,” he told
IslamOnline.net in an interview.
Wealth
Sharing
But
oil and natural resources sharing have added fuel to the flames.
Though
the text says “oil and gas are the property of all the Iraqi
people,” it stipulates that the federal government manages oil and
gas extracted from “current wells” in collaboration with producing
regions and provinces.
The
wording gave the Sunnis a cause for concern as they do not guarantee a
fair distribution of revenues from future explorations given that the
text further allocates a “specific quota” to the provinces
hard-done by the ousted regime of Saddam.
The
draft also stresses that the revenues should be “equitably
distributed” throughout the country according to the population size
of each region.
Iraq's
oil reserves, the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia's, are
concentrated in the country's north, a region claimed by the Kurds,
and in the south, dominated by the Shiites.
Frequent
sabotage of oil pipelines has deprived state coffers of badly needed
oil revenue. Iraq is exporting about 1.5 million bpd, below its
pre-war capacity of 2.2 million bpd.
Baathists
Another
stumbling bloc is the fate of the Baathists.
Retreating
from earlier drafts referring to the Baath, the draft omitted the
phrase “Baath party” and instead banned “the Saddamist Baath and
its symbols.”
Sunnis
had pressed for the removal of any clauses in the draft that bar party
members from public life, arguing that not all of them have blood on
their hands.
But
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said Monday that
“Baathists have no place in new Iraq.”
The
Shiites had threatened the US administration, whose ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad made ubiquitous appearance in closed meeting rooms, to
scupper the drafting process if no reference was made to the
Baathists.
