Sunnis reject proposal for federal Iraq

ANGERED by Shi’ite calls for a federal region, Sunni clerics urged followers yesterday to vote against the constitution if it contains measures they believe would divide the country.

In a dispute that threatened to delay the charter’s completion by a Monday deadline Iraq’s three major Sunni organisations appeared to have taken a united stand both for voting and against demands for federalism after they boycotted the January 30 parliamentary elections.

Sunni Arab leaders were responding to a demand by a leading Shi’ite lawmaker for provisions to allow local Shi’ite control in the southern and central parts of the country. Sunni Arabs fear they will lose out on oil revenues if the country is split into federated zones.

“We reject it wherever it is, whether in the north or in the south, but we accept the Kurdish region as it was before the war,” said Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni member of the committee drafting the constitution. Some Shi’ite leaders want to replicate the success of Kurdish leaders in the north who govern an autonomous part of the country.

“The aim of federalism is to divide Iraq into ethnic and sectarian areas. We will cling to our stance of rejecting this,” Mr Hamdoun said.

The dispute threatened to delay the drafting of a constitution, just three days before a deadline for it to be approved by parliament.

But even if that deadline is met, the Sunnis appeared to be warning that they could still bring down the charter when it is put before voters in an October 15 referendum, which is to be followed by general elections in December.

US officials have pushed hard to keep the political process on track as they consider the process vital to maintaining momentum they hope will undermine the Sunni Arab-led insurgency and pave the way for US and other foreign troops to begin withdrawing next year.

Shi’ites comprise 60% of Iraq’s 27 million people but were long suppressed by minority Sunnis.

The Kurds also have demanded federalism to maintain control over three northern provinces and want authority over Kirkuk, from which thousands of Kurds were expelled by Saddam.

Also yesterday, a US Apache helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, injuring two soldiers. A roadside bomb also killed an American soldier in the central city of Tikrit, the US military said.

The American casualties came as the death toll among the National Guard and Reserve in Iraq soared to at least 32 in the first 10 days of August, according to a Pentagon count. That total is more than in any full month of the entire war.