Iraqi Interior Ministry in referendum arrests row

The new head of Iraq’s biggest Sunni government organisation has accused “some elements” in the Shiite-controlled Interior Ministry of random arrests to keep Sunni Arabs from registering to vote in the constitutional referendum.

Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, head of the government’s Sunni Endowments, said the alleged arrest campaign was underway in the Madain area about 12 miles south-east of Baghdad.

He said the campaign was to keep them from meeting the September 1 deadline to vote in the planned October 15 referendum on the new constitution, which Sunni Arab negotiators oppose. Efforts to contact the ministry for comment were unsuccessful.

“Those elements and militia are loyal to sides from outside the country and they are trying hinder the Sunnis’ march toward taking part in the referendum,” al-Samarrai told reporters. He demanded the ministry release the Sunnis immediately.

The allegations were made one day after US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad appealed to the country’s Shiite and Kurdish leadership to reach out to the Sunnis so that they might accept the draft constitution, which was submitted to parliament on Monday night.

But the Sunni Arabs negotiating the charter strongly objected to several proposals, including federalism, references to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party and power relationships between provinces and the central government.

Parliament deferred a vote for at least three days to give Shiite and Kurdish negotiators time to win over the Sunnis.

Many Sunni Arabs boycotted the January 30 election, enabling Shiites and Kurds to win an overwhelming majority in the 275-member National Assembly. But now Sunni clerics are urging their followers to register and take part in the October referendum to reject a constitution if the final version is unfavourable to their interests.