Iraq's parliament on Sunday sent the final text of the draft constitution to the United Nations to be printed in preparation for the referendum on Oct. 15.

"The draft is being submitted to the United Nations and will be presented to the Iraqi people soon," Hussien al-Shahristani, deputy speaker of the parliament, told reporters.

"There is no way to make any changes now," Shahristani said, after reading amendments to five articles in the draft constitution, which suggested limited concessions to the Sunni Arabs following negotiations with Shiites and Kurds who dominated the parliament.

One of the amendments reads that Iraq "is a founding and effective member of the Arab League," omitting the phrase that says "Arab people in Iraq are part of the Arab nation."

Sunni Arabs, who lost their political dominance with the fall of president Saddam Hussein, wanted it to say that Iraq as a whole is part of the Arab world. The Kurds of the north are Muslims, but not Arabs.

Sunni Arabs' main objection has been to federalism, which they fear could lead to the break-up of the country and leave them with little control of oil-rich zones in the north and south.

The UN officials said last week they would not start printing the document unless they have assurances from the speaker of parliament that it was the final version.

Five million copies of the final draft will be distributed to the Iraqi people before the Oct. 15 referendum.

The draft constitution will fail if two-thirds of voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject it in the referendum.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)