Return of the Sunnis

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

Sunni leaders said this week they would participate in creating a new Iraqi constitution, ending a boycott that had threatened to undermine the delicate constitution-drafting process. The Sunnis had left the Shiite- and Kurd-dominated discussions last month, after two of their negotiators were assassinated in Baghdad. They said they would not return until they were promised more bodyguards and an international investigation of the killings—conditions that were met this week. “The atmosphere is generally positive,” said Sunni representative Kamal Hamdoun. Sunnis were a privileged minority under Saddam Hussein, dominating the fascist Baath Party that oppressed the Shiites and Kurds.