BAGHDAD – Iraq’s parliament yesterday signed off on amendments to a much-awaited draft constitution, paving the way for the charter to be put to a national referendum on October 15.
On the eve of the parliament meeting, rebels ambushed and killed one Kurdish MP and wounded another north of Baghdad. “We are handing the draft over to the UN,” deputy parliamentary speaker Hussein Sharistani said after reading out five articles in the constitution that have been amended following talks between the ruling Shi’ites and Kurds and the minority Sunni Arabs.The amendments to the text, adopted by parliament in late August, were agreed to in an attempt to bring on board the disenchanted Sunni Arab minority which has objected to several of the text provisions.Article 3 of the new draft has been amended to state that Iraq “is a founding and effective member of the Arab League”, replacing a previous version which read that Iraq’s “Arab people are part of the Arab nation”.The text of the draft will now be sent to the United Nations which is to print five million copies for distribution to the public ahead of the referendum.A UN official said he expected to have copies of the charter ready to be distributed within 10 days.”If everything goes well we will start printing the constitution tomorrow (Monday).It will take approximately 10 days to print it if nothing goes wrong,” the official said.An Iraqi MP was shot dead in a road ambush on Saturday, the third lawmaker to be assassinated since the January 30 general elections.Fares Naser Hussein was killed and his colleague Hayder Kasim Shenshu was wounded in the attack in which their driver and a bodyguard also died, an interior ministry official said.The ambush took place near Mushahadah, some 30 kilometres north of the capital, as the two members of the Kurdish list in parliament were heading towards Baghdad.Seventy-five of parliament’s 275 members were elected on the Kurdish list which includes Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and other minorities living in Kurdish regions and supports the government.Sharistani condemned the attack and asked MPs to observe a one-minute silence to mourn their dead colleague.On Saturday, a series of anti-Shi’ite attacks continued with a car bomb ripping through a crowded market in a predominantly Shi’ite suburb of Baghdad late Saturday killing 30 people and wounding 38 others.The bombing occurred as hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims were headed south amid tight security towards the holy city of Karbala for ceremonies today to mark the birth of their messiah.Last week, al Qaeda’s frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi called for “all-out war” against Shi’ites.The tight security for the religious ceremony followed a spate of deadly bombings claimed by Zarqawi’s group last week that left more than 200 Iraqi Shi’ites dead.The deadliest was on Wednesday when some 112 Shi’ite day labourers were killed by a suicide bomber as they waited for work in a Baghdad square.On Friday, 11 Shi’ite worshippers were killed as they left weekly prayers in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, north of the capital.In other violence, insurgents yesterday set off a blaze when they blew up a train carrying petroleum products in southern Baghdad, the second such attack in less than two months, an interior ministry official said.A US soldier was killed by a bomb explosion Saturday near Al Asad in western Iraq, the US military said.His death brings to at least 1,894 the number of American military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.- Nampa-AFP”We are handing the draft over to the UN,” deputy parliamentary speaker Hussein Sharistani said after reading out five articles in the constitution that have been amended following talks between the ruling Shi’ites and Kurds and the minority Sunni Arabs.The amendments to the text, adopted by parliament in late August, were agreed to in an attempt to bring on board the disenchanted Sunni Arab minority which has objected to several of the text provisions.Article 3 of the new draft has been amended to state that Iraq “is a founding and effective member of the Arab League”, replacing a previous version which read that Iraq’s “Arab people are part of the Arab nation”.The text of the draft will now be sent to the United Nations which is to print five million copies for distribution to the public ahead of the referendum.A UN official said he expected to have copies of the charter ready to be distributed within 10 days.”If everything goes well we will start printing the constitution tomorrow (Monday).It will take approximately 10 days to print it if nothing goes wrong,” the official said.An Iraqi MP was shot dead in a road ambush on Saturday, the third lawmaker to be assassinated since the January 30 general elections.Fares Naser Hussein was killed and his colleague Hayder Kasim Shenshu was wounded in the attack in which their driver and a bodyguard also died, an interior ministry official said.The ambush took place near Mushahadah, some 30 kilometres north of the capital, as the two members of the Kurdish list in parliament were heading towards Baghdad.Seventy-five of parliament’s 275 members were elected on the Kurdish list which includes Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and other minorities living in Kurdish regions and supports the government.Sharistani condemned the attack and asked MPs to observe a one-minute silence to mourn their dead colleague.On Saturday, a series of anti-Shi’ite attacks continued with a car bomb ripping through a crowded market in a predominantly Shi’ite suburb of Baghdad late Saturday killing 30 people and wounding 38 others.The bombing occurred as hundreds of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims were headed south amid tight security towards the holy city of Karbala for ceremonies today to mark the birth of their messiah.Last week, al Qaeda’s frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi called for “all-out war” against Shi’ites.The tight security for the religious ceremony followed a spate of deadly bombings claimed by Zarqawi’s group last week that left more than 200 Iraqi Shi’ites dead.The deadliest was on Wednesday when some 112 Shi’ite day labourers were killed by a suicide bomber as they waited for work in a Baghdad square.On Friday, 11 Shi’ite worshippers were killed as they left weekly prayers in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, north of the capital.In other violence, insurgents yesterday set off a blaze when they blew up a train carrying petroleum products in southern Baghdad, the second such attack in less than two months, an interior ministry official said.A US soldier was killed by a bomb explosion Saturday near Al Asad in western Iraq, the US military said.His death brings to at least 1,894 the number of American military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.- Nampa-AFP
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!