Sandstorm delays Iraqi talks

A sandstorm forced Iraqi leaders yesterday to delay talks aimed at breaking deadlock over drafting the constitution to meet an August 15 deadline for the document they hope will help defuse a raging insurgency.

A second day of unrest in the southern Shi'ite city of Samawa added to the pressure on the government.

Locals said the provincial council voted out the governor, meeting the demands of hundreds of protesters who took to the streets on Sunday complaining of poor services.

But about 200 guerillas were still roaming parts of the town and attacking police with rockets and AK-47 assault rifles.

President Jalal Talabani had been scheduled to host a second day of talks between Iraqi leaders from across the sectarian and ethnic divide yesterday to try to resolve volatile issues such as regional autonomy and control of oil revenues.

But a fierce sandstorm whipped up by a rare air pressure system over Iraq's western desert smothered Baghdad in sand and dust, reducing visibility to 50 metres or less in some areas and clearing roads of traffic.

The few who dared to venture out did so with building workers' face masks or a simple wet cloth over the nose and mouth. Hospital emergency wards were packed with people with breathing problems.

A government statement said the poor weather had forced a delay in further talks until today.

The Shi'ite-led interim government and its US sponsors say pressing on with the political process that began with an election in January will defuse the insurgency among the Sunni Arab minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Mr Talabani, a former Kurdish gurrilla leader, was optimistic about reaching a resolution but acknowledged it might not be easy. "We are determined to go on meeting until we find a resolution to all our disputes," he said on Sunday.

The government came to power promising stability and a brighter future. But the poor, especially Shi'ites who expected a better future after the fall of Saddam's regime, still complain of high unemployment, poor services and crime.

Their frustrations boiled over in Samawa on Sunday. Hundreds of people protested outside the local governor's office and called for his resignation. Police opened fire on the crowd, killing one man and wounding about 40 people.

On Monday, as masked men exchanged rocket and rifle fire with police in parts of Samawa and most shops stayed closed, Mohammed al-Ghazawi, a representative of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, told Reuters protests would continue until the governor resigned and local services in Samawa improved.