UN urged to reject Iraqi constitution

IRAQ: Iraq's top Shia cleric has urged the UN not to endorse the country's interim constitution, his office said yesterday, …

IRAQ: Iraq's top Shia cleric has urged the UN not to endorse the country's interim constitution, his office said yesterday, raising a potentially grave obstacle to US plans to hand power to Iraqis on July 1st.

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani told senior UN official Mr Lakhdar Brahimi in a letter that unless the UN rejects the constitution, he would boycott a UN team expected to visit Iraq soon to advise on forming an interim government.

Another threat to any orderly transition is the violence that has convulsed Iraq since the US-led invasion a year ago.

Two visiting Finnish businessmen were shot dead in Baghdad yesterday in the latest attack on foreigners. Finnish broadcaster YLE said they were killed at midday local time while on their way to the electricity ministry.

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An Iraqi security guard was shot dead and three were wounded in the northern city of Mosul as they walked to work, Iraqi security officials said. A civilian was also wounded.

A suicide car-bomb wounded six members of the paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defence Corps outside a US military base north of Baghdad, the US military said. Only the bomber was killed.

The US military also said a roadside bomb killed a US soldier and an Iraqi interpreter while they were on patrol west of Baghdad on Sunday. Three US soldiers were wounded.

The soldier's death raised to 396 the number of US troops killed in action since the start of the war. Insurgents have killed a much higher number of Iraqi police and paramilitaries.

Meanwhile, Washington has pushed ahead with plans to return sovereignty to Iraq in 10 weeks' time under a transitional law signed by the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council earlier this month.

Ayatollah Sistani, in a letter published by his office, said the UN should not approve the de facto constitution. "The (Shia) religious establishment fears the occupation authorities will work to include this law in a new UN resolution to give it international legitimacy," he wrote.

"We warn that any such step will not be acceptable to the majority of Iraqis, and will have dangerous consequences."

Poland said yesterday it hoped the UN would adopt a mandate for peace-keepers in Iraq that would persuade Spain not to pull out its troops, as it has threatened to do. Spain's incoming prime minister has said Madrid will withdraw its 1,300 soldiers on June 30th unless the UN is put in charge of the political transition in Iraq.

Ayatollah Sistani wields great influence over Iraq's majority Shias. His reservations held up the signing of the interim constitution for days. His latest objections could undermine the legitimacy of any Iraqi government.

The UN secretary general, Mr Kofi Annan, said last week he would send a team to Iraq soon to help in the formation of an interim government at the request of the Governing Council.

Ayatollah Sistani had wanted full national elections before June 30th, which would probably have favoured the Shia majority.

Under the interim constitution, direct elections must be held by January 2005.

In his letter, Ayatollah Sistani said the interim constitution was unworkable because it sets up a three-person presidential council, which, he said, would comprise a Sunni, a Kurd and a Shia. They would be required to take unanimous decisions.

"This builds a basis for sectarianism. Consensus would not be reached unless there is pressure from a foreign power, or a deadlock would be reached that destabilises the country and could lead to break-up," Ayatollah Sistani said.