Afghan Constitutional Council Breaks Down

Guardian Unlimited / AP ^ | 1/3/04 | STEPHEN GRAHAM

[Valin]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - After a three-week rollercoaster ride marked by shouting matches, backdoor bargaining and boycotts, Afghanistan's constitutional council broke down again Saturday - this time over a single word.
Leaders called the last-minute hitch shameful, and vowed that Sunday will be the final day for talks on the constitution, which is supposed to help the nation reconcile and rebuild after years of civil war.

The missing word, delegates said, was ``official'' - the status that speakers of Uzbek and Turkic languages want for their native tongues. The dispute has highlighted Afghanistan's enduring ethnic divisions.
``Everything is resolved except a difference about one word. Some of the delegates want it and some don't,'' council chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi said.
``It is shameful we couldn't bring complete agreement on this word.''
``If we cannot finalize it tomorrow, we will announce to the world that we failed,'' he told dismayed delegates seated in a tent on a Kabul college campus.

The ethnic split, led by influential regional leaders, bodes ill for efforts to disarm the unruly militias who control much of the country since helping the United States oust the Taliban two years ago.
The friction pits smaller groups against the Pashtuns, from whom the Taliban drew their strength. It has poisoned the political atmosphere ahead of key national elections slated for the summer.

Foreign officials have warned that Taliban insurgents want to disrupt the convention, and on Saturday night police reported an explosion - possibly a rocket - not far from the meeting site. No damage or injuries were reported.
With U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai vowing to run only if the constitution installs a dominant chief executive, American and U.N. diplomats have been scrambling to salvage a deal.

Journalists were hustled out of the tent after Mujaddedi adjourned the meeting to allow more private negotiations.
One prominent delegate told reporters the talks were snagged on whether the language of Uzbek and Turkmen minorities should join Dari and Pashto on the list of official languages.

A group of Turkic languages similar to Uzbek are spoken by about 11 percent of Afghanistan's 25 million people.
``We don't want our culture to be destroyed,'' said Hedayatullah Hedayat, an Uzbek delegate who has warned that warlords will regain influence if smaller ethnic groups aren't reassured. ``I can neither read nor write in Uzbek because we have no schools of our language.''

Hedayat said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.N. Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi had tried to broker a deal for the languages to be recognized.
Mujaddedi then presented a text saying Uzbek would be allowed in schools, but not officially recognized, Hedayat said. ``It's our right. Afghanistan is the home of all Afghans.''
Pashtuns have rejected the idea, saying others among Afghanistan's kaleidoscope of ethnic groups would make claims of their own, risking chaos.

Earlier Saturday, President Hamid Karzai claimed that the jirga had largely overcome the threat of a boycott by delegates from the north.
Karzai had insisted that the constitution could be ratified even with a narrow majority. But with the powerful presidency he wants apparently secured, he adopted a more conciliatory tone Saturday.
``The purpose is to have a constitution that reflects the views and considerations and interests of all the people of Afghanistan,'' he told reporters outside the presidential palace in Kabul.

Dissenting delegates said they also were holding out against a clause that allows dual citizenship for top officials - an apparent shot at liberal ministers who have returned from exile in the United States to take up key Cabinet posts, but have been unwilling to give up coveted American and European passports.
Mohammed Gul Yunisi, a prominent critic of the U.S.-backed government's plans, accused ministers who wanted to hold on to foreign citizenship of lacking patriotism.
``We say keep your Afghan passport and drop your foreign one,'' he said.
Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, and Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, once a Voice of America reporter, both spent many years in the United States and are believed to still hold American passports.

The two ministers have adopted a high profile and bring an air of Western sophistication to Karzai's Cabinet, mixing comfortably with foreign visitors and at international conferences.
Both are also ethnic Pashtuns brought in to rebalance a government initially dominated by members of the Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance.
Neither minister could be reached for comment Saturday.

[coloradan]

We should send them ours - we're not using it. (McCain-Feingold, all gun control laws ... )

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[nuconvert]

I don't know if they should throw out the whole constitutiona and call it a failure because they can't decide on whether to use the word "official." Heck, leave it out for now and decide later. But get on with it......

[OldFriend]

And any mention of the EU constitution talks breaking down?

[Valin]

And any mention of the EU constitution talks breaking down?

I understand they are going to form a high level commission to look into just how they should break down(want to make sure everything is fair). They should report back their findings before the turn of the century.

[OldFriend]

The EU will take turns blaming various countries for their failures.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I agree with you in principle.

However, it might be harder to revisit the constitution at a later date, to amend it.

We ourselves do not like to amend ours, with good reason.