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Iraq Locks Down Ahead of Referendum

Posted on: Friday, 14 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

BAGHDAD: Iraq closed its borders on Friday ahead of a referendum on a new constitution, ratcheting up security amid militant threats of more attacks aimed at Baghdad's fragile, US-backed government.

Barricades were put in place around polling centres in Baghdad and other major cities ahead of Saturday's vote, while many Iraqi families stocked up on provisions to carry them through a four-day public holiday intended to keep people home.

A strict overnight curfew took effect on Thursday and private vehicles are banned from the roads entirely from Friday night to Sunday morning.

Despite Iraq's measures to prevent violence, Sunni insurgents launched attacks against the largest Sunni Arab political party on the eve of Iraq's crucial referendum on Friday, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders in retaliation after the group dropped its opposition to the draft constitution.

Government officials and US commanders have promised that Saturday's vote will go ahead.

Negotiations aimed at winning Sunni support for the constitution scored a success this week when at least two main Sunni political groups opted to back the charter in exchange for a promise that amendments would be considered after the vote.

Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned that a new victory for Islamist parties would destabilize the whole Middle East.

"Religious rule would cast Iraq into problems with a beginning but no end," said the secular Shi'ite.

"The Americans intended to isolate the cities in western Iraq to prevent the huge Sunni population from voting," said Thair al- Hadeethi, a human rights activist from Haditha.

"There are no voting centrer in cities like Haditha, Hit, Rawa, Qaim, Ana, Baghdadi and the villages around them," Mahmoud Salman al- Ani, a human rights activist in Ramadi, said on Friday, listing locations across western Anbar Province.

Source: China Daily; North American ed.

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