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US frees Iraq prisoners as Sunnis resist charter

Posted on: Saturday, 27 August 2005, 14:01 CDT

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Saturday it had freed 1,000 detainees from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison at the Baghdad government's request, in the largest release to date.

It was not clear if the decision was linked to a demand by Arab Sunnis opposed to a draft constitution that authorities release Sunni prisoners so they can participate in a referendum on the text and elections later this year.

Negotiations on the constitution, involving leaders from rival sectarian and ethnic groups and U.S. diplomats, continued amid a battery of conflicting public statements.

There were signs of splits within the Sunni camp, with other delegates saying that some Sunnis had been won round to a compromise proposal from the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government while some Sunni leaders said they saw nothing to agree on.

But one leading Sunni figure, Saleh al-Mutlak, said he had not even seen the document.

It remained unclear what would happen next or even if parliament would meet on Sunday to review the draft after Sunnis respond to the proposed changes, as parliament speaker Hajem al-Hassani said late on Friday and repeated on Saturday.

Later on Sunday, some delegates cast doubt on whether the timetable would hold after two weeks of missed deadlines.

Sunnis are fiercely opposed to a constitution which enshrines federalism, fearing it would give the Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders who dominate the government control over oil resources in northern and southern Iraq.

On the prisoner releases, U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan said: "I know this is a big one, but I can't say if it is related to anything that is going on."

A statement from President Jalal Talabani's office said prisoners from the town of Madaen, just south of Baghdad, had also been released. Sunni negotiators had also demanded freedom for Sunni prisoners from Madaen.

Whether or not the releases were part of negotiations on the charter, they are likely to ease concerns over the estimated 10,000 Iraqi prisoners held in U.S. detention centres in Iraq.

"This is a good move that we definitely welcome," said Hussein al-Falluji, one of 15 Sunnis on the panel drafting the constitution.

The plight of prisoners in the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib, once one of Saddam Hussein's most feared prisons, has been one the most emotional issues for Iraqis since a U.S.-led invasion toppled the former Iraqi president in 2003.

A scandal broke in the facility west of Baghdad last year when leaked photographs of U.S. military guards abusing prisoners and forcing them to simulate sexual acts provoked an international outcry.

"This major release, the largest to date, marks a significant event in Iraq's progress toward democratic governance and the rule of law," said a U.S. military statement.

CONSTITUTION DEADLOCK

Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders, as well as Washington, are hoping to get Sunni leaders on board for the constitution in a bid to neutralize the insurgency and allow some of the 140,000 U.S. troops to leave.

President Bush again rejected calls to withdraw on Saturday saying that would only embolden insurgents.

"Our efforts in Iraq and the broader Middle East will require more time, more sacrifice and continued resolve," he said.

Negotiations over the charter, described as a blueprint for democracy by Shi'ites and Kurds, and a possible trigger for civil war by the Sunnis, have been deadlocked for weeks.

Apart from federalism, the fate of former members of Saddam's Baath party is also an obstacle. Some Shi'ite figures say they should never be allowed back into public life, but Sunnis say not all former Baathists have blood on their hands.

"There was a concession on Baathism but we believe this is a political matter and we should not include it in the constitution at all," said the Sunni politician Falluji.

Sunni leaders said if no major concessions are made, they will mobilize a "No" in an October referendum on the charter. They are a majority in three provinces.

Under Iraq's interim constitution, if two thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "No," the charter is rejected and parliament dissolved before December elections.

Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged all Iraqis to register to vote in the referendum, a message sure to inspire the majority 60 percent Shi'ites.

In one example of Iraq's complex violence, hospital officials said 20 members of two rival tribes were killed near the western town of Qaim. Both tribes are Sunni but one supports the militant group al Qaeda in Iraq, clerics in the town said.

Source: REUTERS

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