Baghdad, Mar 08: Iraq`s Governing Council signed an interim Constitution today after two delays, in a key step towards a planned handover of sovereignty by US-led occupying powers to Iraqis on June 30. The signing took place at a hastily arranged ceremony in Baghdad after Shi`ite Muslim members of the 25-member council persuaded Iraq`s foremost cleric at the weekend to go along with the document despite reservations.
Just before the signing, guerrillas mounted a rocket attack in central Baghdad. One rocket hit a house, shattering windows but causing no casualties. On Sunday night, insurgents fired multiple rockets at the Baghdad headquarters of the US-led administration but nobody was seriously hurt.
The signing had been delayed first by bomb attacks on Shi`ites last Tuesday that killed at least 181 people and then by last-minute Shi`ite reservations that forced a high-profile ceremony on Friday to be abandoned.
Adnan Pachachi, a senior member of the governing council, said at Monday`s ceremony that the event was ``a great and historic day for Iraq``. Iraq`s US Governor, Paul Bremer, also hailed the agreement and noted the difficulties it had faced. ``We are witnessing the birth of democracy and birth is painful, as we`ve learned over the last few evenings,`` he told the council. ``Not everyone got everything they wanted in this law -- that`s the way of democracy.``
Representatives of the five Shi`ites who backed out on Friday spent the weekend in the holy city of Najaf talking with top clerics including Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who wields immense influence over Iraq`s 60 percent Shi`ite majority.
They announced on Sunday that Sistani still had deep reservations about the document but had given them the go-ahead to sign it rather than appear as spoilers. Some indicated they hoped to undo some clauses in a permanent constitution to be drawn up next year.
Bureau Report