Iraq agrees committee to amend constitution

BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament has agreed to set up a body to draft constitutional changes, a key part of a breakthrough deal reached by the country's factions to end political paralysis and avoid civil war.

Iraq's new, US-sponsored political system has been stalled by wrangling over amendments to the constitution and autonomy for the oil-rich Shi'ite heartland in the south, while the streets have grown ever more violent since December's election.

Breaking the deadlock at a time when US commanders fear a surge in violence through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was a crucial test of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's efforts to sustain his four-month-old national unity government.

In the south of Iraq, British forces said they had killed Omar Faruq, described as a senior al Qaeda figure who escaped from a US military prison in Afghanistan more than a year ago.

"I think the agreement is like a gift presented by parliament to the Iraqi people for Ramadan," parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, told the house.

"Any speech that might be considered offensive and open up any other topic will be banned - today is like a wedding."

Under the deal reached on Sunday, majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis agreed to create a constitutional committee and pass a law allowing autonomy for regions, while postponing the creation of any new autonomous region until at least 2008.

Members agreed on the committee in principle on Monday, and will name its 27 members tomorrow. It will have 12 members from the ruling Shi'ite religious bloc, five ethnic Kurds, four from the main Sunni Arab bloc and smaller numbers of others.

Sunnis, who largely rejected the constitution at a referendum last year, are seeking to amend a number of issues, although doing so may be an uphill battle.

"Our main priority will be to limit the autonomy a region can have but we also have changes in mind to make future changes to the constitution much easier," Sunni Accordance Front negotiator Saleem al-Jibouri told Reuters.

Changes in the constitution would need a two-thirds approval in parliament, followed by a general referendum.

Stormy session

The parliamentary session was stormy, with Kurdish groups walking out in protest at comments by a politician who accused Kurds of driving Arabs from the northern city of Mosul.

The deal resolves political issues that were deliberately left vague last year in an effort to persuade Sunni Arabs to end their three-year-old insurgency and join the political process.

Sunni parties agreed to participate in the December election after they were promised there could be changes to the constitution, adopted in a referendum in October. They want more guarantees for minorities and central control of Iraq's resources - notably the world's third biggest oil reserves.

Many Shi'ite parties want to press on with setting up an autonomous region in the south, a move that Sunnis fear would siphon most of Iraq's oil revenue away from Baghdad.

Under Sunday's deal, a law allowing autonomous regions can now be passed and will have its first reading tomorrow, but will not come into effect until 18 months after it is adopted. Sunnis threatened a boycott of parliament if there was no deal.

Most of Iraq's majority Shi'ites began celebrating the holy fasting month of Ramadan on Monday, two days after Sunnis.

US and Iraqi authorities have predicted, based on statistics from prior years, that Ramadan could see a surge in violence, which has killed about 100 Iraqis a day for months.

On Monday, mortar bombs and a truck bomber targeted a police station in Jurf al-Sakhar, a small town south of Baghdad. Police sources said three people were killed and 10 wounded.

Sunni Ramadan began on Saturday with a massive bomb at a fuel tanker in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Baghdad that killed at least 34 people. Sunni militants who claimed responsibility for the attack said it was revenge for Shi'ite death squad killings.

The United States is focussing the efforts of its 147,000 troops in Iraq on keeping the peace in Baghdad.

But US defence officials in Washington said the US military would delay the departure of about 3,500 soldiers in the Ramadi area. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq, heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency.

The soldiers are from a brigade of the Army's 1st Armored Division, based in Germany, that was due to leave Iraq in January, and will stay "less than two months" beyond their scheduled departure date, the officials said.

In an interview in the Washington Post, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said Iraq still needs foreign troops while it builds up its own forces, and would like a small US presence of 10,000 troops and two airbases for the long term.

- REUTERS