1.

International

Middle East

KURDS VOW TO MAKE NO CONCESSIONS IN IRAQ POLITICAL TALKS
By Kirk Semple

New York Times
August 7, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/international/middleeast/07iraq.html

BAGHDAD -- On the eve of a national political summit meeting to hammer out terms of a draft Iraqi constitution, a top Kurdish representative warned Saturday that the Kurds would withdraw from the government if negotiators did not meet their "basic demands."

Azhar Ramadan Abdul Raheem, a member of the National Assembly and the committee writing the constitution, said that at a special meeting of the Kurdish parliament on Saturday, delegates agreed that the Kurdish bloc should make no concessions in the negotiations. Among the Kurdish demands is a constitutional guarantee of regional autonomy.

Some of the country's top political leaders are set to gather Sunday to try to move the talks ahead.

"This is a last resort," Ms. Raheem said in a telephone interview. "Iraq is on the edge of a volcano, and we hope that we can reach a settlement in the meeting tomorrow."

The Kurds, at least publicly, have adopted a hard line in the negotiations, and with her comments, Ms. Raheem appeared to be trying to establish a bargaining position.

The Kurdish demand for autonomy has support from some Shiite leaders, but is strongly opposed by Sunni Arabs, who fear they would be left with territory that produces little or no oil.

The bloc has also called for the constitution to guarantee the quick repatriation of Kurds deported from Kirkuk by Saddam Hussein, and after that, a vote in Kirkuk on who should govern the city. On Saturday, witnesses said, Kirkuk officials distributed parcels of land to returning Kurdish families despite the objections of Turkmen who said the land had been confiscated from them by Mr. Hussein's government. Local government officials declined to comment on the Turkmen claims. The constitutional committee has an Aug. 15 deadline to present a draft to the National Assembly, and a national referendum on the draft is set for mid-October.

The American military said Saturday that it had squelched a simultaneous four-pronged offensive by insurgents against Iraqi and American troops in a town south of Baghdad on Friday, killing 6 rebels and capturing 12. One Iraqi soldier died in the attacks and another was wounded, the military said.

The American command has been trying to recover its military and political footing after a series of guerrilla attacks that killed at least 22 soldiers this week in the Euphrates River corridor in Anbar Province.

On Saturday, in the third day of a major offensive, 800 marines and nearly 200 Iraqi soldiers swept river towns believed to harbor insurgents.

But according to military news releases on Saturday, American troops made no major gains in their hunt for insurgents, discovering only two small caches of weapons and disabling three car bombs and two roadside bombs. Officials also said they had detained 24 suspected insurgents since the start of the operation.

The military announced Saturday that an American soldier was killed during an insurgent attack in Mosul on Thursday, but provided no further information.

The coordinated guerrilla assault on Friday came against several different Iraqi Army posts in Yusifiya, about 10 miles south of Baghdad, and involved rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds, small-arms fire and two suicide-vehicle bombs. The military casualties occurred when one of the suicide bombers drove a truck into an Iraqi Army checkpoint. An American and Iraqi quick reaction force, including helicopters, tanks and ground troops, responded.

--Ali Adeeb contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article, and an Iraqi employee of the New York Times from Kirkuk.

2.

IRAQ SUNNIS REJECT FEDERAL PROPOSAL

Associated Press
August 6, 2005

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3E8A2595-59FE-4A6E-B60E-A8E03957BE8A.htm

Sunni members of the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution have rejected Kurdish demands for a federal state, saying it cannot be implemented under foreign military occupation and an unstable security situation.

The proposal came a day before Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish political leaders were scheduled to meet to try to thrash out differences on such sensitive issues as Iraq's identity, the role of Islam, federalism and the distribution of wealth to meet the 15 August deadline for parliamentary approval.

The Sunnis said federalism could be implemented in the future when there is a parliament that represents all Iraqis, said member Kamal Hamdan, in reference to the National Assembly that only has 17 Sunni Arab members of the 275 legislators.

"The proposal rejects federalism at the present time because it is difficult to implement it when the country is occupied and the security situation is unstable," Hamdan said.

Most Kurds and some Shia are for federalism, but Sunnis have been against it from the beginning, fearing it will lead to dividing the country.

RIGHTS

The Sunni proposal came two days after Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said "the Kurdish people have the right to secede."

Saturday's move by Sunni Arabs to keep the decision on federalism for the future parliament seems to be because they fear that the predominantly Kurdish and Shia parliament can approve it easily.

Sunni Arabs, many of whom boycotted the 30 January general elections after calls by some of their leaders and threats by fighters, are expected to participate in bigger numbers on the 15 December elections.

Humam Hammoudi, chairman of the 71-member committee drafting the constitution, had called political leaders from the Kurdish, Sunni Arab and Shia communities to meet to see whether they can forge compromises to finish the document by the 15 August deadline.

Hamdan said the Sunni proposal suggests decentralized administrations in each province that work closely with the central government in Baghdad.

He added that the northern Kurdish provinces of Irbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dahuk continue running their affairs as they have since 1991, when they established an autonomous region.