Iraq constitution to be signed today despite Shi'ite doubts

Iraq's Governing Council will sign an interim constitution today without demanding changes to the document, despite the reservations of the country's foremost Shi'ite cleric, Shi'ite politicians said.

Ahead of the planned signing, guerillas fired 10 rockets at the headquarters of the US-led administration in Baghdad yesterday evening. The blasts echoed across Baghdad but the US Army said there were no serious injuries.

The signing of the constitution, a foundation of the planned handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30, has been repeatedly delayed because of disagreements between Iraq's religious and ethnic groups over the document.

"We will sign the interim constitution on Monday (today) as it stands," Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Uloum, the son and chief adviser to Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, told Reuters yesterday.

"We don't want the rest of the Council to fear that the Shi'ites want to demolish the whole process. We don't want them to fear that the Shi'ites are trying to control things."

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, had objected to several parts of the document, in particular a clause that effectively gives Kurds, who make up some 20 per cent of Iraq's population, a veto over the permanent charter which will be drawn up after elections next year.

A delegation of Shi'ite groups on the Council travelled to the holy city of Najaf over the weekend to meet Mr Sistani and other senior clerics to try to overcome the impasse.

They said after the meeting that Mr Sistani had given them the go-ahead to sign the document in spite of his misgivings.

"There are certain articles that the religious circles have reservations about (but) it seems that it will be that way, with no change, but with reservations from those circles as well as from the Kurds," said Adnan al-Asadi of the Shi'ite Dawa party.

The Council missed a February 28 deadline to draw up the constitution but announced last Monday it had been agreed. A signing ceremony planned for last Wednesday was postponed after bomb attacks on Shi'ites in Baghdad and Kerbala killed 181 people on Iraq's bloodiest day since Saddam Hussein fell.

A high-profile ceremony last Friday ended in disarray after five Shi'ite members of the Council refused to sign at the last minute after learning of Sistani's objections.

Mr Sistani is pressing for Shi'ites, long oppressed under Saddam, to have political clout that matches their majority status in a democratic Iraq.

Officials in Najaf said Mr Sistani still had grave doubts about elements of the document but accepted it should be signed in the interests of advancing the political transition in Iraq.

Iraq's US governor Paul Bremer said in interviews on US television he was confident it would be signed today.

"We hope that the signing ceremony will happen tomorrow (today)," he said. "We've noted the statement by the current president of the Governing Council that they do intend to sign it tomorrow."

Mohammed Hussein al-Hakim, who is the son of a senior Najaf cleric and sat in on the discussions, said leading clerics were unhappy with the document but understood its importance.

"The religious authorities have made their position clear to the politicians, but don't want to interfere directly," Mr Hakim told Reuters. "They have deep reservations, but also know this interim constitution is a step in the right direction."