Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 6 March 2004 — Shiite leaders refused to sign an interim constitution yesterday after Iraq’s top Shiite cleric rejected portions of the charter, delaying a signing ceremony at the last minute in a dispute that marred a landmark in the US plans to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis.

The maneuver by five Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council broke the unity that the body showed earlier this week when it overcame deep differences to unanimously agree on a draft of the charter.

It also highlighted the power that Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani wields over the political process. The 75-year-old cleric, who holds considerable influence over Iraq’s Shiite majority, has already derailed US plans for transferring power twice.

A signing ceremony set for yesterday was put on hold as council members met in an attempt to resolve the Shiite objections. Hours after the ceremony’s scheduled time, it had still not begun and there was no word on when it would take place.

An audience sat waiting, amid symbols of unity set up for the occasion — a sign emblazoned “We all participate in the new Iraq” and singing children dressed in traditional garb representing the country’s main ethnic groups. Twenty-five fountain pens, one for each member, were lined up on an antique desk belonging to King Faisal I, Iraq’s first monarch.

The Shiite objections focused on two clauses in the document: One that effectively gives the Kurds a veto over a permanent constitution due to be put to a referendum next year and another on the shape of the presidency in a future government, said Hamed Al-Bayati, a senior official in one of the Shiite parties that balked at signing.

Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurd on the council, denounced the Shiites for “putting obstacles in front of the declaration.” The interim constitution, which will remain in effect until national elections due by January, is a crucial part of the US plan for handing over power to the Iraqis on June 30. The administration of US President George W. Bush is eager to carry out the transfer well before November US presidential elections.

The planned signing yesterday was already six days past the date it was supposed to occur under the US timetable. The Governing Council was unable to overcome sharp divisions by the Feb. 28 deadline, and finally agreed on a draft Monday only after the top US administrator, Paul Bremer, pushed them into marathon negotiations.

Then on Tuesday, suicide bombers struck Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and the city of Karbala, killing at least 182. The signing was put off for a three-day mourning period.

A coalition spokesman said only that yesterday’s delay was caused by a “technical issue” that arose in the past 24 hours. The coalition was observing yesterday’s talks between council members but not intervening, in an attempt to let them work out their differences on their own, the spokesman said.

Council spokesman Hameed Al-Kafaei said members were looking to rephrase some language, but not the major issues. “They will be sorted out. There is no doubt,” he said, adding that he hoped it would be resolved yesterday. He denied there was a disagreement on the setup for the presidency. But officials said Al-Sistani appeared to be at the source of the last-minute Shiite complaints.

During negotiations last weekend to hammer out the charter, some council members complained that negotiations were complicated because Shiite members would agree on a point, then reverse themselves and revive the issue later after consulting with Al-Sistani.

A source on the council said Al-Sistani objected to the clause in the agreed-upon charter that the Kurds had insisted on writing in to ensure that a permanent constitution, to be approved in a 2005 referendum, does not encroach on their self-rule region in the north. The clause says that even if a majority of Iraqis support the permanent constitution, the referendum would fail if two-thirds of the voters in three provinces reject it. The Kurds control three provinces in the north.