Shia demand for autonomy angers Sunni minority

Gulf Times:

Published: Saturday, 13 August, 2005, 11:50 AM Doha Time

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s ousted Sunni Arab elite yesterday expressed anger after the country’s Shia majority made a surprise move towards Kurdish-style autonomy, just days before a crucial deadline for agreement on a new constitution.

As the Sunni Arabs voiced their anger, a source close to the constitutional process said that three of the 18 contentious issues holding the completion of the constitution had been settled by Iraqi leaders.

Thursday’s call from leading Shia politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim for autonomy in Shia areas of south and central Iraq angered Sunni Arab leaders who said it could derail the entire political process.

“We are shocked and scared by the demand for autonomy as expressed by my Shia brothers,” said Salah al-Motlag, a key Sunni member of the constitutional drafting committee.

“The timing of the demand is wrong with just three days left to go for the deadline. Such demands can delay the constitution and Iraq could be without a constitution for another year.”

Some Shia politicians have previously made calls for autonomy in the south and centre of the country, but it was the first time that Hakim, a former exile in Iran who headed the victorious Shia alliance in January elections, had lent such explicit support.

His comments came after meetings in Najaf on Wednesday with Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.Sunni religious leaders also strongly condemned the proposal of a Shia autonomous zone.

“That Iraq is divided into cantons is what the Jews and our enemies want,” said Sheikh Mehdi al-Sulaimi, a member of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, during Friday prayers at the group’s main mosque in Baghdad.

Sunnis are fearful the creation of federally-autonomous zones will prevent them taking an equal share of the Iraq’s lucrative oil reserves, predominantly located in the country’s Kurdish north and Shia south.

“We call for reason from those clamouring to break up (Iraq) ... we, in the centre of the country, do not want an autonomous zone,” Sulaimi said.The emerging consensus between Kurds and Shias on a federal constitution leaves only the Sunni Arabs at odds on one of the key sticking points in the drafting of the new charter.

Opposition from the Sunnis could still scupper the new constitution as the interim rules stipulate the charter can be rejected by a two-thirds majority in any three provinces. Three - Al-Anbar, Tamim and Salaheddin - are predominately Sunni. – AFP