Iraq parliament to sit longer to focus on key laws

By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament voted on Saturday to cut its summer holiday by a month to give lawmakers more time to pass a package of laws Washington views as key to fostering national reconciliation between Iraq's warring sects.

The move is likely to be welcomed by the United States, although the draft laws have yet to be presented to parliament for debate. Analysts say the Shi'ite, Kurd and Sunni Arab political blocs have shown little willingness to compromise on key issues.

Lawmakers said the current session of parliament would be extended until the end of July. But parliamentary committees dealing with the draft laws would not take any summer break, one legislator said.

"So far parliament has received nothing from the committees. I doubt that any of these committees will deliver something to parliament this month," said Izzalddin al-Dawla, a member of the Sunni Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni Arab bloc.

U.S. officials are frustrated by the lack of political progress and have been urging parliament to either scrap its July-August summer holiday or reduce the two-month break.

The United States has sent 28,000 more troops to Iraq for a major summer offensive in and around Baghdad to crush Sunni Arab and Shi'ite militant groups and give the Shi'ite-led government time to reconcile with disaffected minority Sunni Arabs.

The laws deal with sharing revenues from Iraq's huge oil reserves more equitably, holding provincial elections and amending a ban on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party serving in the government and military.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was quoted as saying last week that the drafts were ready and would be presented to parliament this week. Parliament says it has not yet received them.

The most important of the laws is the draft hydrocarbon law that has been approved by cabinet but has been held up by disputes over annexes that detail who will control the oilfields and how contracts with foreign companies will be negotiated.

The government of the largely autonomous Kurdistan region said this week it had agreed with the central government on how to share revenues but that there was still no agreement on a host of other issues.

A draft de-Baathification law has been agreed by Maliki and President Jalal Talabani and sent to cabinet for debate. But it faces stiff opposition from within the ruling Shi'ite Alliance and the committee tasked with purging Baathists from government.

A law setting a date for provincial elections has also yet to be agreed by cabinet. Sunni Arabs boycotted regional polls in 2005 and are thus under-represented in provincial councils.

And, after six months of talks, parliament's constitutional reform committee has failed to reach agreement on amending key provisions of the constitution. Dawla said parliament had given it until September to make a new report on its work.