Iraqi Sunni Arab leaders are preparing to resume talks in yet another bid by the Shia-led government to win approval of Iraq's new constitution.
The US ambassador in Iraq said every effort must be made to win Sunni agreement, but the chairman of the drafting committee doubted that differences could be resolved quickly and suggested parliament might submit the current draft to voters.
Failure to win over the once-dominant minority would undercut the US strategy of using the constitution to lure Sunni Arabs from the Sunni-dominated insurgency so American and other foreign troops could withdraw.
Iraqi Islamic Party
Representatives of the major factions - Shias, Kurds and Sunnis - scheduled negotiations for Wednesday morning in the heavily guarded Green Zone after Sunnis angrily rejected the draft presented to parliament Monday only minutes before the midnight deadline.
Sunni negotiators opposed several parts of the draft, including federalism, references to Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led Baath Party and the description of Iraq as an Islamic - but not Arab - country. Parliament put off a vote on the document for three days to try to win over Sunnis.
"The sticking points are related to the identity of Iraq, federalism, power-sharing and purifying the constitution of any mention of sectarianism," said the Iraqi Islamic Party, which has roots in the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
"If the wording is not re-examined in a way that serves the interests of the country and ensures equality for everybody, then this draft is considered as rejected, as a whole and in details."
Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four principal Sunni negotiators, also complained on Al-Jazeera television that the draft was sent to parliament without consensus.
"This procedure was illegal," he said.
With the Sunnis digging in their heels, the chairman of the 71-member committee that drafted the constitution said three days were not enough to resolve Sunni objections.
He said the draft might have to be approved by the Shia and Kurdish-dominated parliament as is and taken to the people in a referendum in mid-October.
AP