Iraqi leaders break off talks

2004-03-06 14:17

Baghdad - After missing yet another deadline on signing a temporary constitution, Iraq's leaders announced on Saturday that they were taking a two-day break from formal talks as deep ethnic differences resurfaced.

But they implied that informal discussions would go on outside the US-appointed Governing Council and said they still hoped to sign the new basic law on Monday.

Some council members warned the whole agreement was now in danger.

The delay arose after Shi'ite Muslim leaders argued that a clause in the new basic law could give the Kurdish community a technical veto power at a later date when a referendum is to be held on Iraq's permanent constitution.

They also raised objections about the inclusion of Kurdish as an official state language and called for a five-person presidency, dominated by three Shi'ite members.

The document had called for a Shi'ite president, sitting beside a Kurdish and a Sunni deputy.

"Since in the new democratic Iraq there are valuable opportunities to exchange views to reach agreement in a democratic climate, the Governing Council has decided to adjourn its sessions for two days to complete the members' dialogue on that issue," the leaders said in a statement.

The shock development amounted to a public relations disaster for the US-led coalition, which had invited media to an elaborate signing ceremony, replete with a children's chorus and orchestra, at Baghdad's Convention Centre.

The sudden break came in a week marked by day and night political wrangling and the bloodiest attacks in Iraq since dictator Saddam Hussein was removed in April.

The basic law is aimed at seeing Iraq through a transitional period and into next year. It will make Iraq a federal state with two official languages where Islam will be a source of legislation, but not the basis for it.

- AFP